The Bowman surname
In the 2010 U.S. Census, 105,007 people carried this name — #296 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 2,810 people counted. That is up 3% from 102,239 in 2000.
What the name means
The meaning of the Bowman surname
A surname originating as an occupation for a bowman.
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary (en.wiktionary.org) — entry «Bowman» (English), by Wiktionary contributors · licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) · excerpt, lightly adapted.
In Ireland’s birth registers, 1890
Ireland registered 11 births for the Bowman name in 1890.
Most were registered in Ulster. By the Registrar-General’s own method — births multiplied by 44.38 — that is about 500 people bearing the name in Ireland at the time. The Registrar-General’s note on the name: “Antrim and Down.”
Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.
Where they were born, 1890
Registrar-General for Ireland, «Special Report on Surnames in Ireland» (R. E. Matheson, 1894), births index of 1890 — public domain.
In Argentina’s national register
At least 60 people named Bowman live in Argentina.
RENAPER only publishes a name in a province when more than ten people there share it, so the real number is higher. Most of them live in Chubut.
Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.
Where they live today
RENAPER (National Registry of Persons, Argentina), surnames of residents by province, December 2021 — CC BY 4.0.
In France’s civil register
France’s register of deaths holds 32 people named Bowman.
16 of them were born outside France. Those born in France came from 4 départements, most often Oise.
Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.
Where they were born
Fichier des personnes décédées, INSEE — Licence Ouverte 2.0 · deaths recorded in France since 1970, by place of birth.
In Switzerland’s population statistics
27 people named Bowman live in Switzerland.
They live in 4 of Switzerland’s 26 cantons, most of all in Geneva.
Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.
Where they live today
Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO), «Surnames of the permanent resident population by canton», 2025, opendata.swiss/en/dataset/nachnamen-der-standigen-wohnbevolkerung-nach-kanton3 · names with fewer than 3 bearers in a canton are not published.
In the Nordic population registers
20 people named Bowman is counted in Finland.
Finland counts its citizens, at home or abroad.
Counted, by country
Digital and Population Data Services Agency (DVV), Finland, surname statistics, August 2026 — CC BY 4.0.
Among the farmers of England and Wales, 1880s
Bowman was found among the farmers of 3 counties.
It was most frequent in Cumberland and Westmorland: 44 in every 10,000 farmers there — about 1 in 227. Guppy counted the farmers listed in each county’s directory and recorded a name only where it reached about 7 in every 10,000; where it does not appear, it was rarer than that, not absent.
Where it concentrates, on the mapPer 10,000 farmers, by county
H. B. Guppy, «Homes of Family Names in Great Britain» (London, 1890), alphabetical list of English and Welsh names — public domain · farmers in Kelly’s Post Office Directories of the 1880s, per 10,000 farmers in each county.
In Scotland’s registers today
Bowman was recorded 60 times in Scotland’s registers of births, marriages and deaths in 2025.
That made it the 439th most common name in those registers, shared with others on the same count. In 1975, the first year of the series, the count was 71. Each birth counts the child’s surname, each marriage both partners’ and each death the surname of the person who died — a yearly count of registrations, not of the people who live in Scotland.
National Records of Scotland, «Most Common Surnames, 2025» (published 26 May 2026): every surname recorded 10 or more times in the 2025 registers, and the series from 1975 · different spellings are counted separately — © Crown copyright 2026. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
In the first U.S. census, 1790
284 families named Bowman, or a close spelling, were counted in 1790.
Each family is counted by its head. About 1,686 people lived in those households, 5.9 to a family on average. The table counts it together with 12 other spellings. The table lists white heads of families only, in the twelve states whose 1790 records survive; Virginia’s figures come from state lists of 1782–1785.
Families, by state
U.S. Census Bureau, «A Century of Population Growth from the First Census of the United States to the Twelfth, 1790–1900» (Washington, 1909), table 111, p. 230 — public domain · names carried by at least 100 white persons in 1790.
In print
Bowman in American newspapers,
1871–1872.
Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain · 505,088 pages in all carry the name.
In print
Bowman in Australian newspapers,
1800s–2000s.
150,817 articles name a Mr, Mrs or Miss Bowman. The most, 26,341, date from the 1910s. New South Wales has the most articles, but weighed against how much of each state’s press from the same decades has been digitised, the name stands out most in South Australia, at 1.7 times its expected share.
Articles, by state
Trove, National Library of Australia (trove.nla.gov.au) · articles in its digitised newspapers that name a Mr, Mrs or Miss Bowman.
Who carried it
People named Bowman,
with a public archive behind them.
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Paget Bowman d. 1928 · actor -
Baxter Bowman d. 1853 · businessperson
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J. H. Bowman d. 1940 · politician
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Andrew W. Bowman d. 1869 · military officer
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Francis Caswell Bowman d. 1884 · writer
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Hannah Diana Bowman d. 1844
Wikidata (CC0) · portraits via Wikimedia Commons, shown cropped, in the public domain or CC0 · 10 lives in all are documented under this name.
In the public record
People named Bowman,
in the records of 8 countries.
Soldiers, farmers, migrants and neighbours who carried the name and left a trace in public archives. Everyone shown here died long ago or was born more than a century ago.
United States7,670 records
- U.S. Army enlistment records, World War II 3,626
- U.S. veterans' cemetery records, burials to 2001 1,525
- Other U.S. records 2,519
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Example: U.S. war memorial War record Reginald Alonzo BowmanBorn 1949; from Baltimore, Maryland. U.S. Army, radio operator; killed in action 1968 in Hua Nghia, South Vietnam. Buried at Baltimore National Cemetery, Maryland.
U.S. National Archives, Defense Casualty Analysis System (public domain); U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0) -
Example: U.S. registration card, 1942 Military record Marjorie T. BowmanBorn 1895 in Texas. Enlisted 1944 in the Women's Army Corps at Camp Bowie Brownwood; clerk. U.S. Army veteran of World War II; died 1989, buried at Santa Fe National Cemetery, New Mexico.
U.S. National Archives, WWII Army Enlistment Records (public domain); U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0) -
Example: passenger manifest, 1903 Passenger record Charlotte BowmanArrived at Philadelphia in 1874 aboard the Nederland from Antwerp, aged 34; servant. From Bruxelles, Belgium; bound for Philadelphia.
U.S. National Archives, Castle Garden Immigration Center Collection, Ship Passenger Records (unrestricted)
Showing 3 of 7,670 records for Bowman in the United States.
Counts: U.S. National Archives, WWII Army Enlistment Records (public domain) · U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0) · NYC Department of Records & Information Services, Historical Vital Records (NYC Open Data) · U.S. National Archives, Flexoline Index Data File (public domain) · New York State Department of Health, Genealogical Research Death Index · U.S. National Archives, Castle Garden Immigration Center Collection, Ship Passenger Records (unrestricted) · U.S. National Archives, Defense Casualty Analysis System (public domain) · U.S. National Archives, Famine Irish Passenger Records (public domain) · Sacramento County, Historic Burials (CC BY 4.0) · City of Asheville (public domain, PDDL) · Ramsey County, Minnesota (public domain). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Vietnam Veterans Memorial, photo by U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael J. Carden, 2009 (public domain); U.S. Selective Service registration card, 1942 (public domain); Passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, New York, 1903 (public domain).
Australia2,311 records
- Victoria passenger lists, 1839–1923 1,125
- Victoria wills and probate, deaths to 2001 513
- Other Australian records 673
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Pictured: convicts going on board a prison ship, 1829 Transportation record Mary BowmanTransported to Van Diemen's Land aboard the New Grove, sailing from London in 1834. Native of Westminster, Middlesex. Applied for permission to marry in Van Diemen's Land in 1838. Married 1838 in Hobart, Tasmania.
Libraries Tasmania, Tasmanian Names Index (CC BY 4.0) -
Example: probate petition, 1848 Probate record Florence Ada BowmanDied 1891 in Hobart, Tasmania, aged 27. Will registered in Tasmania in 1891.
Libraries Tasmania, Tasmanian Names Index (CC BY 4.0) -
Example: passenger manifest, 1903 Passenger record Alex BowmanArrived in Victoria in 1853 aboard the Tasmania, aged 29; Scottish.
Public Record Office Victoria (CC BY 4.0)
Showing 3 of 2,311 records for Bowman in Australia.
Counts: Public Record Office Victoria (CC BY 4.0) · Queensland State Archives (CC BY 4.0) · Libraries Tasmania, Tasmanian Names Index (CC BY 4.0) · Museums of History NSW – State Archives Collection (CC BY) · State Library of Western Australia (CC BY 4.0) · ACT Government, Transport Canberra and City Services (CC BY 4.0) · National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Prison-ship in Portsmouth Harbour, with the convicts going on board, etching by Edward William Cooke, 1829, Royal Museums Greenwich (public domain); Petition to the probate court, St. Louis, 1848, Missouri Historical Society (public domain); Passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, New York, 1903 (public domain).
Canada411 records
- Nova Scotia Archives name indexes 213
- Canadian Virtual War Memorial 38
- Other Canadian records 160
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Example: passenger manifest, 1903 Passenger record David BowmanCame to Ontario in 1880 aboard the Phoenecian, landing at Quebec, bound for Niagara, Ontario; Scotch.
Archives of Ontario. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Ontario. -
Example: Canadian cemetery Burial record George Warren BowmanBuried in 1988 at Queen's Park Cemetery, Calgary, Alberta, aged 83.
City of Calgary. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – City of Calgary. -
Example: Canadian cemetery Burial record William Arthur BowmanBuried in 1953 at Fairview Lawn Cemetery, Halifax, Nova Scotia, aged 77.
Halifax Regional Municipality. Contains information licenced under the Open Government Licence—Halifax.
Showing 3 of 411 records for Bowman in Canada.
Counts: Nova Scotia Archives. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Nova Scotia. · Veterans Affairs Canada. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Canada. · City of Niagara Falls. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Niagara Falls. · City of Calgary. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – City of Calgary. · City of Winnipeg. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Winnipeg. · City of Vancouver. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Vancouver. · Contains information provided by the City of Waterloo under licence · Archives of Ontario. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Ontario. · Halifax Regional Municipality. Contains information licenced under the Open Government Licence—Halifax. · National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, New York, 1903 (public domain); Fairview Lawn Cemetery, Halifax, photo by Edgar El (CC BY 3.0).
United Kingdom91 records
- War Office casualty lists, 1917–1919, among the dead 45
- St James's burial ground, Euston (London), 1789–1853 20
- Other British records 26
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Example: roll of honour, 1914–1919 War record Ernest Druitt BowmanBorn 1883 at Aberlour. Served in the First World War. Named in the University of Aberdeen roll of service in the Great War, 1914-1919.
National Library of Scotland, Rolls of Honour (public domain) -
Example: burial register, 1858 Burial record Jessie BowmanBuried in 1935 at Callander Cemetery, Stirling, Scotland, aged 94.
Stirling Council. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. -
Example: probate petition, 1848 Probate record Henry Jobson BowmanWill proved in 1937; of Old Colwyn, Denbigh.
National Library of Wales, Wills Index Cards (CC0)
Showing 3 of 91 records for Bowman in the United Kingdom.
Counts: National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain) · MOLA and HS2, St James's burial ground data. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. · Stirling Council. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. · National Library of Scotland, Rolls of Honour (public domain) · National Library of Wales, Wills Index Cards (CC0). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: C. & E. Morton Ltd roll of honour, 1914–1919, photo by Adrian S Pye via Geograph (CC BY-SA 2.0); Burial register of Newtown, Montgomeryshire, 1858, National Library of Wales (CC0); Petition to the probate court, St. Louis, 1848, Missouri Historical Society (public domain).
New Zealand56 records
- Christchurch City cemetery records 38
- Thames-Coromandel District cemetery records 8
- Other New Zealand records 10
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Example: burial register, 1858 Burial record Thomas BowmanBuried in 1875 at Shortland Cemetery, Thames-Coromandel District, Waikato, aged 25.
Thames-Coromandel District Council (CC BY 4.0) -
Example: burial register, 1858 Burial record Ernest Albury BowmanDied 1953, aged 63; buried at Ruru Lawn, Christchurch, Canterbury.
Christchurch City Council (CC BY 4.0) -
Example: burial register, 1858 Burial record Isabel Elizabeth BowmanDied 1970, aged 70; buried at Omaka Cemetery, Marlborough.
Marlborough District Council (CC BY 4.0)
Showing 3 of 56 records for Bowman in New Zealand.
Counts: Christchurch City Council (CC BY 4.0) · Thames-Coromandel District Council (CC BY 4.0) · Waimakariri District Council (CC BY 4.0) · Marlborough District Council (CC BY 4.0) · National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Burial register of Newtown, Montgomeryshire, 1858, National Library of Wales (CC0).
France15 records
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Example: French death register, 1930 Death record Robert William BowmanBorn 1915 in Montataire; died 1994 in Cires-lès-Mello (Oise).
Insee, Fichier des personnes décédées (Licence Ouverte) -
Example: French death register, 1930 Death record Lucy Anna BowmanBorn 1903 in Chantilly (Oise); died 1978 in Montmorency (Val-d'Oise).
Insee, Fichier des personnes décédées (Licence Ouverte)
Showing 2 of 15 records for Bowman in France.
Counts: Insee, Fichier des personnes décédées (Licence Ouverte). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Death register of Nice, 1930, Archives départementales des Alpes-Maritimes (public domain).
Netherlands14 records
- Dutch population registers 7
- Dutch church registers before 1811 4
- Dutch civil registers (births, marriages, deaths) 3
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Example: U.S. census, 1910 Population register Sara BowmanIn the population register of Haarlem; domestic servant, born in Haarlem.
Open Archives, Noord-Hollands Archief (CC BY 4.0) -
Example: civil register, 1880 Death record Lawrence Cummings BowmanDied 1966 in Overleden op Zee, aged 53.
Open Archives, Haags Gemeentearchief (CC BY 4.0)
Showing 2 of 14 records for Bowman in the Netherlands.
Counts: Open Archives (CC BY 4.0). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: U.S. census of 1910, Milwaukee (public domain); Civil register, Berlin, 1880, Landesarchiv Berlin (CC0).
Norway2 records
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Example: U.S. census, 1910 Census record David BowmanCensus of 1910: Fredensborg, Dybvaag; ship's mate, born 1880 in Larvik.
Arkivverket, Digitalarkivet, 1910 census (CC BY 3.0 NO)
Showing 1 of 2 records for Bowman in Norway.
Counts: Arkivverket, Digitalarkivet, 1910 census (CC BY 3.0 NO). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: U.S. census of 1910, Milwaukee (public domain).
Nearby in the index
Surnames next to Bowman.
- Bowes 4,967 · U.S. census
- Bowie 11,786 · U.S. census
- Bowler 4,698 · U.S. census
- Bowles 23,713 · U.S. census
- Bowlin 6,938 · U.S. census
- Bowling 26,762 · U.S. census
- Bowser 14,383 · U.S. census
- Box 10,098 · U.S. census
- Boxberger 386 · U.S. census
- Boy 949 · U.S. census
- Boya 163 · U.S. census
- Boyadjian 575 · U.S. census
When the index is not enough
This page says where Bowman is.
A volume says what happened to it.
Every page in the index is free and stays free. The Heritage Volume is the long form: the full paper trail, the arms, the crossing — bound, and yours.