Alexa Gets a New Name: ‘Ziggy’

Tired of talking to Alexa?  Now you can start having conversations with Ziggy, instead.

Amazon has added ‘Ziggy‘ as a new “wake word,” for its voice-controlled assistant.  It now joins ‘Alexa‘, ‘Amazon‘, ‘Echo‘, and ‘Computer.’

It’s the same name as the cartoon character from the 1970’s, or David Bowie’s alter-ego, Ziggy Stardust.  Either way, it’s a name which isn’t necessarily one gender or another.

Is Jeff Bezos a fan of the old Ziggy comic strip?  We’re not sure – an Amazon official said ‘Ziggy’ was chosen because “it’s fun and reflects Alexa’s wealth of knowledge on everything from A to Z.”   So, it’s more like “beginning to end,” or “alpha to omega”?  Perhaps.