Stowe
A habitational surname meaning someone who came from a place called Stow or Stowe, from an Old English word for a place or meeting place.
The #3,355 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 28,941 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Stowe comes from Old English stōw, meaning a place, site, or standing place. In surname use, it usually identified someone who had come from a settlement named Stow or Stowe. Related place-names could also carry the sense of a special local site, such as a market or gathering place.
History
Medieval records in England show early bearers such as de Stow and de Stowe, confirming its use as a locational byname. The surname is especially associated with English place-names in counties such as Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire, though it appears more widely wherever people took surnames from their home village. It survives today in the spelling Stowe, alongside the shorter Stow.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The same Old English stow appears in several English place-names, including Plaistow, often glossed as a 'play-place' or open space.
From the historical record
“Northts. Dial. ; T. Wright. STOW "1 (Eng.) Bel. to Stow or Stowe [O.E. STOWE J stdw, dat. stdwe, a place] "... apud locum ubi vulgari dicitur nomine at Stou)e."-~ Charter A.D. 956 ; Cart. Sax. no. 986. Oda de Stow. — Hund. Rolls, A.D. 1274. Joh'es de Stowe. —”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)