The lyrics of the Thursdays child poem were used to teach a child to the order and names of the different days of week. The theme of Thursdays child ensured that a child would take a lively interest in which day that they were born on!
Mondays child is fair of face,
Tuesdays child is full of grace,
Wednesdays child is full of woe,
Thursdays child has far to go,
Fridays child is loving and giving,
Saturdays child works hard for his living....
http://www.rhymes.org.uk/thursdays_child.htm
http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/52/me ssages/358.html
Akan speakers assign names based on the day of birth: a girl born on Thursday is Yaa. Yaa is the name of a female deity and also of an Asante cultural hero, Yaa Asantewaa, who led the final Asante revolt against the British.
http://www.ecogrrl.org/article/5/thursdays-chi ld
There is an old superstitious rhyme which predicts the personality of an individual based on the day they were born. Perhaps Bowie had this in mind when writing the lyrics for this song.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thursday's_Child
The Hindu astrology also says that Monday's child
will have a fair face. I have personally observed the
same in some relatives of mine.