There is a rather large Bowes group from Yorkshire, northern England. We don't have enough DNA or parish record data yet to determine how many separate lineages it may include, or what variants occur within it. (Please contact me if you can help with this!) Somewhere in this group lurks the ancestral origins of the well known Bowes of Durham who the Queen Mother descends from, seen in the Bowes-Lyon name.
There is also a smaller Bowe population from northern England. Extensive research of Yorkshire and Cumberland Bowe by Rennie Bowe suggests they are a separate family from the Bowes and likely have a different geographic origin in Yorkshire. He points out that English Bowes is pronounced like "bows" as in "ribbons tied in bows," while English Bowe is pronounced more like "bough." Additionally, these families are buried in separate sections in cemeteries where both names occur. Extensive study of original parish records indicates that instances of Bowes among these Bowe in published indices such as the LDS' IGI are transcription errors occurring only within larger Bowe families. Known variants of Bowe in these records include Bow and Buo. [1] Mapping the English Bowe, however, indicates this may only be part of the picture and further research is warranted. The Bowe are discussed below after Bowes.
Geographic Origins - Bowes
In the case of Bowes we might reasonably expect the surname to arise as a place name associated with Bowes parish or village, once in northern Yorkshire, now in Durham. But when using surname mapping a stronger possibility emerges. Mapping the Bowes name in England using 19th century census data shows it clearly reaches its highest frequency—by a long shot—south of Bowes parish and village, in the Poor Law Union of Helmsley, and this holds true whether mapping by actual numbers or frequency.
Bowes by Frequency per 100,000 [2]
Bowes by Actual Numbers [3]
The place a surname shows its highest frequency from early censuses is, when supported by other evidence, often indicative of the geographic origin of the name. So Helmsley is the best place to begin the search for a habitational or other circumstantial foundation of the name for most Bowes. A map of the River Rye that flows through the town of Helmsley reveals a significant bow in its path marked by a slight reversal of direction before continuing forward again.
Possible Norse Origins - Bowes
Since the town of Helmsley was settled as early as 3000 BC, small farming communities continued into the Roman occupation [4], and the establishment of Norse speaking Vikings is apparent in old street names [5], it's possible that some English Bowes have a very early history here. If they are from the area near the distinctive river bend at Helmsley town, they may have arrived among the Norse settlers whose Old Norse word for "bow" is "bogi." Interestingly, "Bogis" is the first written form used for the name of Bowes Parish to the northwest, where the River Greta etches a bow into the landscape at the village of Bowes similar to the one at Helmsley, marked by a slight reversal of direction before continuing forward again. In the case of Bowes Parish, the spelling is shown eight different ways until it finally standardized to Bowes.
Were Norse settlers responsible for naming one of their early families after the river bend in Helmsley? And did they later settle at the River Greta near what became the village of Bowes in Bowes Parish because it shared a geographic feature of their home at Helmsley? A river bend that doubles back to some degree would provide more water frontage in a square mile than where a river doesn't bend or bends less. This might be seen as the most efficient place to settle along a river. All we can do is speculate.
Early Records - Bowes
Surtee's, an historian and antiquarian who relied on original sources, offers:
There were various sprinklings of the ancient name of Bowes, hesitating between gentry and yeomanry, that occur in wills and registers throughout Allertonshire [Northallerton PLU] and Richmondshire [NE of Northallerton PLU]. The families established at Ellerbeck [Northallerton PLU] and at Angram Grange [Easingwold PLU, SW of Helmsley PLU], held considerable landed property for several descents. [6]
Since no Bowes or variants are recorded as land owners in the Doomsday Book, these Bowes must have acquired their holdings later.
Possible Norman Origins - Bowes
Since many Bowes with history in England assume they are related to the Bowes of Streatlam/Bowes-Lyon ancestors of Queen Elizabeth, and since this is a significant family bearing the surname, I've discussed them separately under Durham Bowes. Their surname takes on an association with archers bows as seen on their Coat of Arms, and with the Normans through a purported relation of William the Conqueror and other early ties to the Earl of Richmond and his Brittany connections, but these links are not well established. Whether or not they are even partly true, it is almost certain that not all Bowes from England are related to them, since many most likely took the Bowes name later as a locational surname upon moving elsewhere, to signify where they were from. So far no one has produced a documented relationship from the present back to the "Durham Bowes."
Geographic Origins - Bowe
Discerning the origin of the English Bowe by mapping them using 19th century census data is a bit muddier, revealing several possibilities. Mapped by actual numbers as opposed to frequency among the local populations, and judging by the numbers, the earliest Bowe seem to have appeared in Cockermouth, whether independently from or as a branch of the Bowes, while a later settlement seems to have emerged in the Bowes region, more clearly suggestive this concentration is a variant of Bowes.
Bowe by Actual Numbers [7]
But if we map them by frequency among the local populations, the number of Bowe per 100,000, a different picture emerges.
Bowe by Frequency per 100,000 [8]
Now the Bowe appear to have origins more so in the region of the Bowes.
If the Cockermouth Bowe have a separate origin from those concentrated to the southeast of them, Rennie Bowe suggests that a possible candidate for the geographic origin of Cockermouth Bowe is "Bow(e) Fell in the mountains of the English Lake District....situated on a bend in the valley, reasonably close to Keswick, where we have traced our earliest known ancestors. The River Derwent, which flows through Keswick has many a notable bend (bowe in old English) along its course." In this case, Bowe would be a habitational name based on a local geographic feature. [9]
Other Possible Origins - Bowes and Bowe
Choosing the surname of a landowner whose land one worked on.
Choosing the name as an occupational surname, with some English Bowes conceivably having been bow makers or sellers (the bow was an important long range weapon for shooting game as well as in warfare).
Habitational name from a number of possibilities.
DNA Studies
We need increasing participation in our DNA project to include more male Bowes and Bowe Y chromosomes from northern England to pursue these goals:
1. Delineate English Bowes lineages based on Y chromosome markers,
2. Identify haplogroups from the area that may help understand early cultural origins,
3. Establish the documentary trail and Y chromosome of a modern descendent of the Durham Bowes.
3. Determine whether Bowes and Bowe share a common patrilineal lineage before surnames and later differentiation, and
4. Clarify whether the two geographic concentrations of Bowe represent separate families.
____________________
1. Bowe, Rennie. The Yorkshire Bowe Site with Durham and a Hint of Cumberland. (http://www.bdevel.co.uk/bowe: accessed 30 July 2011).
2. "The British 19th Century Surname Atlas," database on CD, Archer Software, (http://www.archersoftware.co.uk: accessed 30 July 2011).
3. Ibid.
4. Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helmsley
5. Ibid.
6. Surtees, Robert. The History and Antiquities of the County Palatine of Durham: Compiled from Original Records Preserved in Public Repositories and Private Collections (1816-1840). 4 volumes. London: J.B. Nichols.
7. "The British 19th Century Surname Atlas," database on CD, Archer Software, (http://www.archersoftware.co.uk: accessed 30 July 2011).
8. Ibid.
9. Bowe, Rennie. Email correspondence.