Family name origins & meanings
- Scottish (also found in Ireland) : reduced form of McDow. This surname is borne by a sept of the Buchanans.
- English : variant of Daw.
- Americanized spelling of Dutch Douw, an Old Frisian personal name.
- Americanized spelling of German Dau.
- Henry Dow (1634–1707), NH soldier and statesman, was born at Ormsby in Norfolkshire, England. His father migrated with his family to Watertown in the colony of Massachusetts Bay in 1637 and moved to Hampton in the province of NH in 1644. Henry became an influential and prosperous figure in Hampton. He married twice and had four sons.