Lowry
A surname with multiple roots: often from Lawrence, but also sometimes from Norman place-names or Scottish Laurie.
The #1,428 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 12,402 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Lowry is an old surname with more than one possible origin. In English and Scots use, it is often a pet form or variant of Lawrence, and related forms were also used as nicknames for someone seen as sly or fox-like. Some bearers may instead descend from Norman locational names such as de Luri or from the Scottish family of Laurie.
History
The name appears in medieval and post-medieval records in several spellings, including Lowrie, Lewry, and Lowrey. English sources often connect it with Yorkshire and with occupational or nickname forms built from Lawrence. Other branches were later associated with Norman or Scottish families, so the surname has more than one family history behind it.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
In Scots, Lowrie and Lawrie were traditional words for the fox, which helped reinforce the name’s association with slyness or cunning.
From the historical record
“or fox-like disposition. LOWRY. Frequently written Lewry, In Normandy there are two places called Lorei — one in the arroudissement of Evreux, the other in the Cotentin. At the making of Domesday, Hugh de Luri held lands in capite, CO. Dorset. Another Norman patri- arch, William Leurie, (without the terri- torial…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom