Meaning & origin
A reliable meaning for Bow isn’t established in our sources yet. Rather than guess, we show what is recorded: how the name is used, how often, and the names it’s connected to.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1980. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Bow through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 265
- 260 boys · 5 girls
- Most popular year
- 2022
- 21 babies
- 2025
- 13
- #6,506 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −26%
- Easing
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 13 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 6,506 among boys’ names. The recent annual counts are too incomplete to establish a ten-year comparison. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 443 as a first name in 2020; 1,646 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Bow’s family of names
The ring: across languages.
Across languages 3
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
Similar names
If you love Bow, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Bronze
Bronze is a surname.
95% boys · 5% girls
Burech
>99% boys
Borja
“tower”
>99% boys
Brookston
>99% boys
Aeon
91% boys · 9% girls
Aitor
Aitor is a masculine given name from Basque. It is used in Spanish and Basque.
>99% boys
Basim
“a smiling man”
>99% boys
Huxson
>99% boys