Bowie is a Scottish surname from the Gaelic buidhe, which means "yellow-haired" or "fair-haired". In America it recalls the frontiersman Jim Bowie and his famous knife, and for most modern parents it honors the musician David Bowie, whose death in 2016 sent the name upward. Bowie entered the US top 1000 in 2018, peaked at number 952 in 2021, slipped out again in 2022 and ranks 1228 in 2025.