How common is the surname Barlow?

33,335 people in the United States had the surname Barlow in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 9,262 Americans. It ranked 1,047th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Barlow?

John Perry Barlow, American poet and essayist (1947–2018), followed by Joel Barlow.

Where is the surname Barlow most common?

Wikidata records people named Barlow in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia and 2 other countries.

How do you pronounce Barlow?

Barlow is /bɑɹloʊ/, 2 syllables.

Is the surname Barlow getting more or less common?

More common. 30,749 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 33,335 in 2010, up 8.4%.

The surname Barlow

An English place surname, carried by 33,335 people in the United States.

Pronounced /bɑɹloʊ/ 2 syllables Soundex B640

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Barlow is more common than 99.4% of them.

Origin

English origin

From Old English bere (“barley”) + hlǣw (“hill”) or lēah (“wood, clearing”).

Barlow is a place surname: taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.

One of 1,446 English surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 33,335 people named Barlow in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 9,262 Americans. That is up 8.4% since 2000, when the Census counted 30,749.

#1,047

rank among US surnames

33,335

people in 2010

per 100,000 Americans

+8.4%

change since 2000 (was #1,041)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#1,038	Cho	33,490	9,219
#1,039	Kaiser	33,480	9,222
#1,040	Holder	33,465	9,226
#1,041	Bird	33,457	9,228
#1,042	Bonner	33,446	9,231
#1,043	Ferrell	33,418	9,239
#1,044	Cotton	33,374	9,251

Who is named Barlow

Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

81% of people named Barlow identified as white (not Hispanic), 13% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.0% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

White (not Hispanic) 81%
Black (not Hispanic) 13%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.0%
Two or more races 1.9%
American Indian and Alaska Native 1.2%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.6%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Barlows

20 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

John Perry Barlow
American poet and essayist (1947–2018)
Joel Barlow
American poet, diplomat, politician and businessman (1754–1812)
Matt Barlow
American heavy metal singer, born 1970
Lou Barlow
American musician (born 1966)
David Barlow
Australian basketball player (born 1983)
Helena Barlow
British actress, born 1998
Reginald Barlow
Actor (1866-1943)
R. H. Barlow
American anthropologist (1918–1951)
Aidan Barlow
Association football player (born 2000)
Phyllida Barlow
British artist (1944–2023)
Eric Barlow
American politician, born 1966
Clarence Barlow
British composer (1945–2023)

Notable Barlows come mostly from the United States (11), the United Kingdom (5) and Australia (2).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Variant spellings

Barlowe

Surnames that sound like Barlow

Barlow has the Soundex code B640, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code B640.

Other English surnames

All 1,446 English surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Barlow come from?: From Old English bere (“barley”) + hlǣw (“hill”) or lēah (“wood, clearing”).
How common is the surname Barlow?: 33,335 people in the United States had the surname Barlow in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 9,262 Americans. It ranked 1,047th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Barlow?: In the 2010 Census, 81% of people named Barlow identified as white (not Hispanic), and 13% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Barlow?: John Perry Barlow, American poet and essayist (1947–2018), followed by Joel Barlow.
Where is the surname Barlow most common?: Wikidata records people named Barlow in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia and 2 other countries.
How do you pronounce Barlow?: Barlow is /bɑɹloʊ/, 2 syllables.
What type of surname is Barlow?: Barlow is a place surname, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.
Is the surname Barlow getting more or less common?: More common. 30,749 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 33,335 in 2010, up 8.4%.
What are other spellings of Barlow?: Barlowe.