# Bowery (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/bowery/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname from Middle English.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | English |
| Type | occupational, named after the work an ancestor did |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 568 |
| US rank (2010) | 38,850 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 543,566 people |
| Change since 2000 | -15.4% (671 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈbaʊəɹi/, 3 syllables |
| Variant spellings | Bowry |

## Etymology

Unexplained. Perhaps a topographic surname for someone who lived in a small cottage, from Middle English bour (“chamber, cottage”) or, alternatively, an occupational surname for someone who worked there.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Bowery in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 88% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 6.3% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 3.4% |
| Two or more races | 1.8% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Bowery in Australia.

## People named Bowery

- Leigh Bowery, Australian artist (1961-1994)

## Similar surnames

Bower, Berry, Boyer, Booher, Bowyer, Beery, Boer, Bero, Bauer, Barry, Barr, Bray.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.