Skip to content
Name Lineage

    The surname Low

    A Norman surname, carried by 12,032 people in the United States.

    1 syllable Soundex L000

    Low: #2,979 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#1,000Archer#10,001Dubon Low #2,979, 12,032 people Low: #2,979 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#100Jimenez Low #2,979, 12,032 people
    Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Low is more common than 98.2% of them.

    Origin

    Norman origin

    * As an English and Scottish surname, from the obsolete noun low (“mound, barrow”). * Also as an English and Scottish surname, from the adjective low. * Also as an English and Scottish surname of Norman origin, from Anglo-Norman leu (“wolf”). * Also as a Scottish surname, from a pet form of Lawrence. Compare Lowry. * As a German and Jewish surname, variant of Löwe, Lowe, Loew. * As a Chinese surname, variant of Lau, Lou; also Li, Luo.

    One of 128 Norman surnames on this site.

    Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

    How common it is

    2010 US Census

    There were 12,032 people named Low in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 25,660 Americans. That is up 4.9% since 2000, when the Census counted 11,475.

    #2,979
    rank among US surnames
    12,032
    people in 2010
    4.1
    per 100,000 Americans
    +4.9%
    change since 2000 (was #2,873)
    RankSurnamePeople1 in
    #2,970O'Reilly12,07425,571
    #2,971Bundy12,06525,590
    #2,972Bethea12,06125,599
    #2,973Reinhardt12,05725,607
    #2,974Sam12,05325,616
    #2,975Guo12,04825,626
    #2,976Littlejohn12,04725,628

    Who is named Low

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

    62% of people named Low identified as white (not Hispanic), 29% as Asian and Pacific Islander and 4.3% as two or more races.

    • White (not Hispanic) 62%
    • Asian and Pacific Islander 29%
    • Two or more races 4.3%
    • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 3.0%
    • Black (not Hispanic) 1.7%
    • American Indian and Alaska Native 0.4%

    Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

    Famous Lows

    9 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

    • G. David Low
      American astronaut (1956–2008)
    • David Low
      British (Australasian) cartoonist (1891-1963)
    • Seth Low
      American mayor (1850–1916)
    • Mary Fairchild Low
      American artist, painter (1858-1946)
    • Frank J. Low
      American astronomer (1933–2009)
    • Chuck Low
      American character actor (1928-2017)
    • George Low
      American NASA administrator and President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (1926-1984)
    • Evan Low
      American politician, born 1983
    • Frederick Loewe
      Austrian-American composer (1901–1988)

    Notable Lows come mostly from the United States (8) and Australia (1).

    Spellings and sound-alikes

    Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

    Surnames that sound like Low

    Low has the Soundex code L000, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code L000.

    Other Norman surnames

    All 128 Norman surnames

    Questions

    Where does the surname Low come from?
    * As an English and Scottish surname, from the obsolete noun low (“mound, barrow”). * Also as an English and Scottish surname, from the adjective low. * Also as an English and Scottish surname of Norman origin, from Anglo-Norman leu (“wolf”). * Also as a Scottish surname, from a pet form of…
    How common is the surname Low?
    12,032 people in the United States had the surname Low in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 25,660 Americans. It ranked 2,979th of 162,253 surnames.
    What ethnicity is the surname Low?
    In the 2010 Census, 62% of people named Low identified as white (not Hispanic), and 29% as Asian and Pacific Islander.
    Who is the most famous person named Low?
    G. David Low, American astronaut (1956–2008), followed by David Low.
    Where is the surname Low most common?
    Wikidata records people named Low in the United States and Australia.
    Is the surname Low getting more or less common?
    More common. 11,475 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 12,032 in 2010, up 4.9%.