David Bowie was born David Robert Jones in 1947. Not only is David Jones a rather ordinary name for a performer, especially one as flamboyant as Bowie, but it could also have led to confusion with the singer Davy Jones, who was already well known before he joined the Monkees in 1966 (Bowie didn't have a major hit until Space Oddity in 1969.)

David Bowie had another name change in 1972, when he came back as Ziggy Stardust and brought out an album of the same name (Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars). He also played different acting roles later, starring in the films The Man Who Fell to Earth and Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, and playing the Elephant Man on stage.

Identity and change are a big theme in Bowie's work, so it seems quite fitting that he changed his own name. His son Duncan Jones is also known as Zowie Bowie.