Bowman
A masculine name referring to a skilled archer or one who makes bows.
Name Census estimates that about 800 living Americans carry the first name Bowman. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Bowman today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bowman births was 2024 (53 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bowman. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
800
~ 1 in 428,443 Americans
Peak year
2024
53 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,523
Tracked since 1884
Census
Bowman in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 708 people with the first name Bowman, which placed it at #16,051 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#16,051
National first-name rank
People counted
708
708 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
80.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bowman
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bowman is White at 80.8%. The next largest groups are Black (6.5%) and Two or More Races (5.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Bowman described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Bowman at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White80.8% · 572
- Black or African American6.5% · 46
- Two or more races5.2% · 37
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.4% · 24
- Hispanic or Latino3.1% · 22
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 7
Popularity
Bowman: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bowman from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 300 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Bowman remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Bowman by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Bowman during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Bowmans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia recorded the most babies named Bowman, while Tennessee, Texas, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 14 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Bowman
The name Bowman has its origins in the Middle English language, dating back to the late 14th century. It derives from the Old English word "boga" meaning a bow or archer, and "man" signifying a person. The name was initially used to refer to soldiers or skilled archers who used bows and arrows as their primary weapons.
During the medieval period, the name Bowman was particularly prevalent in England, where archery played a crucial role in warfare and hunting. It was often bestowed upon individuals who excelled in the art of archery or held positions related to this skill, such as royal archers or members of archery guilds.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Bowman can be found in the Hundred Rolls of 1273, which were records of landowners in England. The entry mentions a certain "Robertus le Bogheman" from the county of Oxfordshire.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Bowman:
1. Sir William Bowman (1816-1892), a renowned English surgeon and anatomist who made significant contributions to the study of the eye and vision.
2. Nathaniel Bowman (1773-1846), an American soldier and politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Ohio.
3. Isaiah Bowman (1878-1950), an American geographer and educator who served as the president of Johns Hopkins University from 1935 to 1948.
4. Lockie Bowman (1909-1983), an American baseball player who played for the Philadelphia Athletics and the Boston Red Sox in the 1930s.
5. Scotty Bowman (born 1933), a legendary Canadian ice hockey coach who won a record nine Stanley Cup championships with the Montreal Canadiens, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Detroit Red Wings.
While the name Bowman has ancient roots, it has endured through the centuries and continues to be used in various cultures and regions around the world. Its connection to archery and warfare has given it a strong and distinctive character, often associated with skill, precision, and bravery.
People
Bowman + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bowman as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with B
Other first names starting with B with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Bowman: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bowman?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 800 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bowman going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 428,443 US residents.
Is Bowman a common name?
We classify Bowman as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 964 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bowman most popular?
The single biggest year for Bowman was 2024, when 53 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bowman is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bowman in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 708 people with the name Bowman, or 0.23 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,051 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Bowman in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Bowman?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bowman leans strongly male. 675 people counted with this name were male (95.6%), compared with 31 female bearers (4.4%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Bowman?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bowman is White at 80.8%. The next largest groups are Black (6.5%) and Two or More Races (5.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Bowman most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Bowman in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.8% (572 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Bowman in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bowman a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Bowman in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Bowman still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bowman in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Bowman can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are called Bowman?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.