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Bowen

#266 in 2025Boys' name

Son of Owen

Bowen has been given to 13,513 babies in the U.S. since 1913. In 2025 it ranked #266 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2025, with 1,292 recorded.

Babies named Bowen, 2025

1 in 2,570

Bowen over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
05001K1.5K18801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Bowen: meaning, origin, and history

Son of Owen

surname transfer

What Bowen means

Bowen means “son of Owen”, associated with Owain.

Origin, language, and formation

Bowen is used in English. Its origins include surname transfer.

Bowen comes through Welsh ap and Welsh ap Owain.

Bowen is recorded as a surname transferred into given-name use.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Bowen is pronounced /ˈboʊ.ən/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 13,187 boys were recorded with the name Bowen between 1913 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 1,292 in 2025; its best national rank was #266 in 2025.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #395 in 2020 to #266 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #517 in 2015 to #266 in 2025.

In the United States, 326 girls were recorded with the name Bowen between 2004 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 36 in 2025; its best national rank was #3,992 in 2025.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #5,891 in 2020 to #3,992 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #7,680 in 2015 to #3,992 in 2025.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Bowen?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 2,570
1,292 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 1,320
0.08% of boys
Rank, 2025
#266
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
1,780 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Bowen sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 301%
Grade of 1004%
School of 50018%

Put another way: gather 1,780 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Bowen. In a class of 30 the chance is 1%.

When Bowens were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Bowen was born before 2018 — so the typical Bowen is around 7 today.

Median birth year
2018
About 7 years old
Biggest decade
2020s
44.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
91.2%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
13,074
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2020s — 44.0% of all recorded uses (5,797).

Is Bowen rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
+55
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+129
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+251
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
2.32×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
100.0%
Peak was 2025 (1,292)
Years since peak
Peaking now
At its all-time high
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
17.2% average annual change
Best rank ever
#266
2025

Spellings of Bowen

Bowen is not the most common spelling — Owen is, with 44.2% against Bowen's 2.4%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Bowen is used

Across 2016–2025, Bowen was most concentrated in Iowa — about 1 in 610 boys, against 1 in 1,822 across all states with data. It was least common in Nevada (1 in 16,667).

6164 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Iowa1 in 610
  2. 2Wyoming1 in 621
  3. 3Nebraska1 in 658
  4. 4Idaho1 in 667
  5. 5North Dakota1 in 709
  6. 6Kansas1 in 730
  7. 7West Virginia1 in 800
  8. 8Utah1 in 833

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings.

Geographically, Bowen is somewhat regional — more concentrated than 50% of the names used widely enough to compare. See the most regional names

Bowen around the world

Where Bowen ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1998–2025
    #329
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    2015–2025
    #762
    in 2025
  • Northern Ireland
    2024–2025
    #395
    in 2025
  • Ireland
    2025–2025
    #577
    in 2025
  • France
    2018–2020
    #5,568
    in 2020
  • Canada
    1991–2024
    #173
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1949–2013
    #499
    in 2013

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS, NISRA data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Bowen

People whose public names include Bowen, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Bowen in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Bowen. Linked forms have their own page here.

BowBowyer

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Bowen by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#266
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 129
Best rank ever
#266
2025
Peak year
2025
1,292 that year
First recorded
1913
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
13,187
Count in 2025
1,292

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#3,992
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 1,899
Best rank ever
#3,992
2025
Peak year
2025
36 that year
First recorded
2004
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
326
Count in 2025
36

Names similar to Bowen

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

RowenBowieBowmanBowdenBowynLowenBowdyKowenBowanOwenBoweCowenBowBowinEwenBowdieGwenEdwenJowenBowdeeBowdrieBowdynSwenJaywen

Names with a curve like Bowen

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Bowen, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

RemyKaysonLennoxHendrixOakleyKashBodhiNikoMathiasOdinMalakaiSullivan

Sibling names for Bowen

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Bowen

Top names of 2025, Bowen's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 2025Boys' names starting with B