Bow
A unisex name with no widely documented etymology — one syllable, given to 9 babies a year in England and Wales.
Bow by the numbers
In 2025, 9 babies in England and Wales were named Bow. In the US, 19 were, though that figure is from 2017, the most recent full year we hold.
For the size of the two countries, it is given noticeably more often in England and Wales than in the US.
Its American peak was 19 babies in 2014, making it a 2010s name.
What we can tell you about Bow
Not every name has a meaning to trace. Plenty are coined rather than inherited — invented outright, blended from two names, or respelled from an older one — and where we cannot find an etymology we can stand behind, we would rather say so than make one up. What follows comes from the birth records themselves.
Spelled almost the same
Other names in the records within a letter or two of Bow. Close spellings are not always related names, but they are usually worth seeing together.
Sounds like Bow
Names that are said the same way as Bow, however they are written. Sounding alike does not mean they share a history.