Bose
A surname with several possible roots, including a place-name or a nickname based on a rounded or humped form.
The #9,547 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 90,648 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Bose is etymologically uncertain and may have more than one independent origin. Some historical sources connect it with a place-name element related to Old French or Norman words for woods or wooded land, while others treat it as a nickname from a root meaning a hump, bulge, or rounded shape. In English records it may also be a reduced or variant form of longer surnames such as those beginning Bos- or Boase/Boaz-like forms.
History
The name appears sporadically in medieval and later records in England, with spellings and related forms varying widely by region. Because several similar-looking surnames overlap in sound and spelling, later surname writers often disagreed about whether Bose belonged with place-names, descriptive nicknames, or shortened forms of other names. As a result, modern bearers may descend from more than one unrelated line.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
19th-century surname writers sometimes grouped Bose with a whole cluster of look-alike names, showing how slippery surname etymology can be when spellings were unstable.
From the historical record
“London, 86 ; Boston (U.S-X 49. Boseaman, Bosoman, Bose- mond, BoBamund.~Bapt. <the son of Rosamund.' A common girl's name at the surname period. The suffix -mond or -mund became by corruption -man ; cf. Osman,”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames (alternate scan)