Lowman
A surname most likely describing someone who lived by a low-lying place or hollow.
The #4,838 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 42,387 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Lowman is usually explained as a topographic surname, built from Middle English low or lowe, meaning a low place, hill, or hollow, plus man, in the sense of a person associated with that place. Older surname writers also compared it with the older English word lounde or launde, meaning a woodland glade or clearing, but that explanation is less certain. In either case, the name originally pointed to where a person lived rather than to an occupation.
History
The surname is recorded in English historical sources from at least the late medieval period, and later spellings such as Loman and Locman appear in parish and civil records. Nineteenth-century surname dictionaries treated it as an English local or topographic name, though one author noted a family claim of Norman origin. It is now established chiefly in English-speaking countries, especially the United States.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older surname books sometimes grouped Lowman with names like Lowndes and Lounds because all were thought to point to low ground or open land.
From the historical record
“land, Lancaster, and Northampton. LOWMAN. See -low, man, and er. A dweller by or upon an eminence. LO^VXDES. I can find no better etymo- logy for this name than launde, 0. Eng. 2 D for a forest-glade or lawn. In ' Morte- Arthure ' this word is written loundes. The family claim to be of Norman origin.”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom