NB
This section receives little attention while focusing on the primary components of a one-name study: Variants, Distribution and Frequency and the DNA Project
Sometimes locating a place (road, hill etc.) named after a person can help narrow family research to a specific area within a region where they know their family lived.
Search the US Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System (GNIS)
The visitor should use discretion with the sources linked to by these records. Some are Wikipedia or other sources of questionable accuracy.
There are no doubt many, many more place names. Feel free to e-mail ones you know about.
Bahamas > Exuma >
“T
here was a small
slave market at the then Bowe's Tavern, believed to
have been
on the site of the present Peace and Plenty Hotel.”
England > Devon > Bow
England > Durham >
"The district developed in the 1880s and is named after an old manor called Bowes [deeded in 1397], marked as Bowes Farm and Bowes (Manor) on the Ordnance Survey maps of 1822 and 1877, respectively. This is an 'estate of a family called Bowes'.” [Bowes Park in Wikipedia]
The question here is whether this local Bowes family's name derived from the name "de Arcubus," of which there were many in the area. These de Arcubus are thought to have derived their name from the nearby Church of St. Mary-le-Bow, a structure that featured arches. De Arcubus is Latin for ‘of the arches.’ Was there a name progression for this London Bowes family from "[St. Mary] le-Bow" to "de Arcubus" to "Bowes"?
St. Mary-le-Bow church was a Norman church featuring Norman arches and involved in the suppression of non-Norman locals. It's not unreasonable to speculate that any Bowes lines whose origin may have ties to this area and the name/architecture of this church may have been Normans. A paper trail would need to be established from the current line back.
We have no proof that John de Arcubus of 1274 (or any other de Arcubus of the area) is related to the residents of Bowes manor of 1397. The residents of this manor could have come from Yorkshire, as could have John de Arcubus. See also. More research is needed.
England > London > East London > Bow
England > London > St. Mary-le-Bow Church
"St Mary-le-Bow was built c.1080 by Lanfranc, William the Conqueror’s Archbishop of Canterbury who accompanied him from Bec in London ." [St. Mary-le-Bow official website]
"The metropolitan appellate court of the archbishop of Canterbury, the Court of Arches (or the Arches, for short) that met in St. Mary le Bow church in central London, was the most important medieval English ecclesiastical tribunal. Logan's study of the court ranges from its creation sometime in the mid-thirteenth century until the early sixteenth century, when Henrician statutes prohibited legal recourse in ecclesiastical matters from England to the pope." [Figuera, Robert C. "The Medieval Court of Arches," Catholic Historical Review, October 2007. Reviewing book by the same name ed. by F. Donald Logan.]
"The Parish Church of St. Mary Bow" in John Strype's A Survey of the Cities of London and Westminster, 1598 [Scroll down; No mention of any de Arcubus family.]
England > West London > Bowes Road (near Bounds Green)
England > Oxfordshire > Bow
England > Surrey > Walton on Thames > Bowes Road
"Surry County Council should be able to tell you the reason why it is named BOWES. Or try a local history society. The whole area around Hampton Court and Weybridge is connected with Royalty." [E-mail correspondence.]
US > Arizona > Tucson > Bowes Road
US > Illinois > Elgin > Bowes Creek Country Club
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