# Howe (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/howe/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | boys |
| Origin | Norse |
| Meaning | “steep ridge”, “hock”, “heel”, “hill”, “place of worship” |
| Pronunciation | /haʊ/, 1 syllable |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 28 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 28 / 0 (0% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | not in the ONS data |

## Etymology

* As an English surname, from Middle English hoʒe (“steep ridge”), a late variant of hōge, dative case of Old English hoh (“hock, heel”), with likely influence from Old Norse haugr (“hill”). * Also as an English surname, variant of Hugh, pronounced to rhyme with how. * As a Norwegian surname, Americanized from Hove, from the dative singular of Old Norse hof (“place of worship”). * As an Irish surname, variant of Haugh; also a variant of Hoey. * As a Chinese surname, variant romanization of 侯, see also Hou. * Also as a Chinese surname, possibly from Cantonese form of the names 豪 (háo), 浩, and 昊 (hào).

## What it means

Howe is grouped under mountain.

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1912 | 5 | 2,703 |
| 1917 | 5 | 4,253 |
| 1918 | 5 | 4,455 |
| 1919 | 5 | 4,451 |
| 1921 | 8 | 3,339 |

## People named Howe

- Hubert Howe Bancroft, American historian and ethnologist (1832–1918)
- Howe Gelb, American singer-songwriter, musician and record producer

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.