Updated June 9, 2019

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Family name origins & meanings

  • Scottish : occupational name for a bow maker, Older Scots bowar, equivalent to English Bowyer.
  • English and Scottish : from Middle English bur, bour ‘bower’, ‘cottage’, ‘inner room’ (Old English būr), hence a topographic name for someone who lived in a small cottage, an occupational name for a house servant who attended his master in his private quarters (see Bowerman), or a habitational name from any of various places, for example in Essex, named Bower or Bowers from this word.