# Lowe (surname)

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

A surname.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | German |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 92,260 |
| US rank (2010) | 334 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 3,346 people |
| Change since 2000 | +3.5% (89,178 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /loʊ/, 1 syllable |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

* As an English and Scottish surname, spelling variant of Low. * As a German surname, spelling variant of Löwe, Loewe. * As a Jewish surname/Yiddish surname, from German Löwe (“lion”). * Also as a Jewish surname, Germanized from Levy. * As a French-derived surname, from Old French lou (“wolf”). * As a Norse-derived surname, from Old Norse lágr (“low”) (as in "short"). * As a native English-derived surname, from Old English hlāw (“hill”) (a burial ground in this case). * Also a petname (clipping) of Laurence/Lawrence.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Lowe 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) | 73% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 19% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.6% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 1.7% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 1.0% |
| Two or more races | 2.4% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Lowe in the United States, the United Kingdom, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Austria and Kingdom of Bohemia.

## People named Lowe

- Rob Lowe, American actor (born 1964)
- Chaunté Lowe, American high jumper
- Douglas Lowe, British athlete (1902–1981)
- Chad Lowe, American actor and director
- Arthur Lowe, British actor (1915–1982)
- Edmund Lowe, American actor (1890-1971)
- Richard Thomas Lowe, British botanist, ichthyologist, malacologist and cleric (1802-1874)
- Todd Lowe, American actor
- Karsta Lowe, American volleyball player
- Ann Lowe, African American fashion designer (1898–1981)
- Mundell Lowe, American jazz guitarist (1922-2017)
- Hudson Lowe, British Army general

and 16 more on Wikidata.

## Similar surnames

Loewe, Lo, Low, Louie, Loe, Loew, Lowy, Lee, Li, Le, Liu, Lu.

## 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.