How common is the surname Howe?

42,265 people in the United States had the surname Howe in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 7,305 Americans. It ranked 820th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Howe?

Elias Howe, American inventor (1819–1867), followed by Julia Ward Howe.

Where is the surname Howe most common?

Wikidata records people named Howe in the United States and Australia.

Is the surname Howe getting more or less common?

More common. 40,555 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 42,265 in 2010, up 4.2%.

Is Howe also a first name?

Yes. Howe is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.

The surname Howe

A Norse place surname, carried by 42,265 people in the United States.

Pronounced /haʊ/ 1 syllable Soundex H000 Also a first name

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Howe is more common than 99.5% of them.

Origin

Norse origin

* 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).

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

One of 126 Norse surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 42,265 people named Howe in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 7,305 Americans. That is up 4.2% since 2000, when the Census counted 40,555.

#820

rank among US surnames

42,265

people in 2010

per 100,000 Americans

+4.2%

change since 2000 (was #775)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#811	Gillespie	42,693	7,232
#812	Buck	42,639	7,241
#813	Middleton	42,578	7,251
#814	Sellers	42,577	7,251
#815	Leblanc	42,575	7,252
#816	Esparza	42,559	7,255
#817	Hardin	42,469	7,270

Who is named Howe

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

91% of people named Howe identified as white (not Hispanic), 3.2% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.1% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

White (not Hispanic) 91%
Black (not Hispanic) 3.2%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.1%
Two or more races 1.8%
American Indian and Alaska Native 1.3%
Asian and Pacific Islander 1.0%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Howes

28 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Elias Howe
American inventor (1819–1867)
Julia Ward Howe
American abolitionist, social activist, and poet, 1819–1910
Samuel Gridley Howe
American physician and abolitionist (1801–1876)
Mark Howe
American-Canadian hockey defenseman, born 1955
Greg Howe
American musician, born 1963
Robert Howe
Australian tennis player (1925-2004)
Brian Howe
American actor, born 1957
E. W. Howe
American novelist and editor (1853-1937)
Timothy O. Howe
American politician (1816-1883)
Irving Howe
American writer, literary and social critic and socialist activist (1920–1993)
Linda Moulton Howe
American filmmaker & investigative reporter, born 1942
Wallace Howe
American actor (1878–1957)

Notable Howes come mostly from the United States (26) and Australia (2).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Howe

Howe has the Soundex code H000, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code H000.

Other Norse surnames

All 126 Norse surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Howe come from?: * 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,…
How common is the surname Howe?: 42,265 people in the United States had the surname Howe in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 7,305 Americans. It ranked 820th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Howe?: In the 2010 Census, 91% of people named Howe identified as white (not Hispanic), and 3.2% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Howe?: Elias Howe, American inventor (1819–1867), followed by Julia Ward Howe.
Where is the surname Howe most common?: Wikidata records people named Howe in the United States and Australia.
How do you pronounce Howe?: Howe is /haʊ/, one syllable.
What type of surname is Howe?: Howe is a place surname, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.
Is the surname Howe getting more or less common?: More common. 40,555 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 42,265 in 2010, up 4.2%.
Is Howe also a first name?: Yes. Howe is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.