007’s name came from a bird guide, not a spy
Ian Fleming invented James Bond in 1953 as a deliberately dull blunt instrument for MI6. He lifted the name from an American ornithologist’s Birds of the West Indies. The film series that began with Dr. No in 1962 has since passed seven billion dollars at the box office.
Fleming wrote twelve Bond novels and two short-story collections. After his death in 1964, other writers kept the authorised series going—Amis, Gardner, Benson, Faulks, Deaver, Boyd, Horowitz, Higson and more. On the page, Bond is an SIS officer coded 007 and a Royal Naval Reserve Commander, assembled from people Fleming met in Naval Intelligence and 30 Assault Unit during the Second World War.
Fleming wanted the dullest Anglo-Saxon name he could find so exotic events would happen around a neutral figure. The real James Bond was a Caribbean bird expert; Fleming told the ornithologist’s wife the unromantic name was exactly what he needed. He also pictured Bond looking a little like singer Hoagy Carmichael—and like himself—coldness included.
Adaptations span television, radio, comics, games and film. The movies are among the longest continually running series and have grossed over about 7.04 billion US dollars, placing Bond fifth among film franchises by that measure. Signature ingredients include Oscar-winning theme songs, cars, guns, Q Branch gadgets and the revolving cast of Bond girls.
The joke that launched a franchise still lands: the world’s most glamorous fictional spy was named to sound as boring as possible. From Fleming’s twelve novels through decades of authorised sequels and a film run that began with Sean Connery in Dr. No, the franchise keeps proving that a deliberately boring name can carry cars, gadgets, theme songs and a code number spoken as double-oh-seven.
Source: James Bond
