Bowie or River

[MrsCharlieD]

Just that really. I want River Nathaniel, dh wants Bowie River. I'm a Bowie fan but ds already has a music heavy name. We're probably considered a pretty alternative couple so these name choices wouldn't be considered out there for us but I'm conscious our child may not be anything like us (although ds is already starting to be). What do you think? Is Bowie useable or will it date terribly?

Bloody awful. I'm a diehard Bowie fan but that is just grim.

River is acceptable. Bowie is not.

If your DH is such a bowie fan tell him to get a tattoo or buy him a goldfish to name.

River is lovely! Definitely go with that.

Just my personal taste etc, but I'm not very keen on naming children after slebs, whether it might be Jordan or Jimi Hendrix. That said, I would get used to pretty much any name eventually and Bowie is a lot better than some of the more 'cutesy' / 'cheeky chappy' type names, which I hear a lot; I definitely won't list them, for fear of offending!

River is much better than Bowie

Didn't Howard Donald name his son Bowie?

zen

Wikipedia says you are correct!

If I had to pick, I'd say Bowie. River is an awful name.

I feel sorry for kids with rock star names. As though their parents have decided in advance that they will never have enough charisma of their own so need to borrow someone else's. Give your baby a cool, quirky name of their own!

All a bit wanky to be honest.

Since David Bowie died I've heard of more than one C list celeb calling their newborn Bowie. As a muso do you really want to keep company with Howard Donald of Take That fame?

I think the Duncan in question was actually born Zowie Bowie, and changed it himself later on.

Another "River" from me.

No he didn't. Duncan jones was always called Duncan jones.

Bowie is too popular now. Howard from TT and Tess Holiday have both named their son Bowie so that would put me off.

River is OK. There are loads of solid alternative names out there, Greek or Roman mythology offers loads of excellent names

Some names like Bowie, Elvis, or Kermit are too connected to one person (or one frog!) to be useable for anyone else. And if he turns out not to be a DB fan himself he'll get very tired very fast of people constantly wanting to chat to him about Mr Stardust

Rio chavvy ? Bowie and River are names given by pretentious parents I feel personally, poor kid.

I like River.

The big problem with Bowie is just that it's too soon. Like a PP in this thread mentioned, Hendrix is an occasionally used name, and Marley is fairly popular these days too. Maybe Bowie will be okay in 30-40 years, but right now it's just too blatant.

I like giving kids names inspired by people you admire, but I think it's best to use less OBVIOUS homages, imo. Like, if you hate David, there must be other musicians you like whose name is a less unique.

Would you consider Nathanial as a first name?

Why not use David with Bowie as a middle name? I've never met a David under 30, in its own way a little boy called David/Dave these days would be quite unusual and cool.

Thanks to this thread I've just listened to River by Joni Mitchell. Forgot how much I loved that song.

Joni would be a good musician-inspired name too

(I know it's not her "real" name but point still stands)

I wanted Bowie but husband said no. 😭

I think you may wish to consider as an alternative couple if your child wants to be an alternative child.

I like Joni

Joni is gorgeous.

If only OP was having a girl