Billows Surname

478,963rd
Most Common
surname in the World

Approximately 697 people bear this surname

Most prevalent in:
England
Highest density in:
New Zealand

Billows Surname Definition:

Ferguson thinks Billows may be the same as an Old German Bilo, quoted by Förstemann, and that Pill and Pillow, unless connected with Peel, may be High German forms of Bill or Bilo. Bellew, Pellew, Bellas, Beiliss, and Bowles are also surnames.

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Billows Surname Distribution Map

PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
England2391:233,13019,331
United States1891:1,917,772124,288
Canada1121:328,97830,038
Australia821:329,21628,102
New Zealand321:141,51016,640
Netherlands111:1,535,19878,311
Germany101:8,050,546248,660
Thailand101:7,063,834426,148
China71:195,331,65210,124
Israel11:8,557,634182,558
Malaysia11:29,494,225409,885
France11:66,422,722504,397
Wales11:3,094,53244,023
Ireland11:4,708,93929,543
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
England1041:234,37917,485
Guernsey11:32,6562,283
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
United States691:727,80746,603

Billows Surname Meaning

From Where Does The Surname Originate? meaning and history

Ferguson thinks Billows may be the same as an Old German Bilo, quoted by Förstemann, and that Pill and Pillow, unless connected with Peel, may be High German forms of Bill or Bilo. Bellew, Pellew, Bellas, Beiliss, and Bowles are also surnames. Pellew is said to be of Norman origin, from bel-eau, the beautiful water, the designation of some locality . Bowles has been derived from Bellovesus, a celebrated name mentioned in Liv., Lib. v., cap. 33, said to mean a leader in war (dux belli), from Old German vel for veld, war. Bowditch says the writer of Britaine's Remains supposes the name Bellows to be a corruption of Bellhouse, and he mentions a History of the Bellows Family by the Rev. Henry W. Bellows, D. D., of New York.

Ludus Patronymicus (1868) by Richard Stephen Charnock

User-submitted Reference

Billowes - is unique, I believe, I have never found one who is not related. It seems to be derived from Billows in the following way. My 4-greats grandfather signed his name with a great flourishing loop on the back end of the "w", which can easily be read as an "e". About half his kids used the "e" and the others did not.

Billows is tougher. I did a search of the complete UK phone directory some years ago and there were 180 Billows and about half of them lived in the Southampton area which is very close to the Bournemouth/Poole area which appears to be the seat of the Bellows in the 18th century from whom I can trace my ancestors. This suggests that most are related to me but there may be multiple origins.

Nobody can be sure of the origins. I have cordwainers and blacksmiths on my tree, which suggests the origin of some of the Bellows is trade-related.

- anonymous submission

Billows Last Name Facts

Where Does The Last Name Billows Come From? nationality or country of origin

The last name Billows is more commonly found in England than any other country or territory. It may be rendered as:. Click here to see other possible spellings of this last name.

How Common Is The Last Name Billows? popularity and diffusion

Billows is the 478,963rd most commonly used surname globally It is held by approximately 1 in 10,455,590 people. It occurs mostly in The Americas, where 39 percent of Billows are found; 39 percent are found in North America and 39 percent are found in Anglo-North America.

The surname Billows is most frequently used in England, where it is held by 239 people, or 1 in 233,130. In England Billows is mostly found in: Merseyside, where 28 percent live, Hampshire, where 15 percent live and Somerset, where 8 percent live. Barring England it occurs in 13 countries. It is also found in The United States, where 27 percent live and Canada, where 16 percent live.

Billows Family Population Trend historical fluctuation

The frequency of Billows has changed through the years. In England the number of people carrying the Billows last name rose 230 percent between 1881 and 2014 and in The United States it rose 274 percent between 1880 and 2014.

Billows Last Name Statistics demography

In The United States those bearing the Billows surname are 9.27% more likely to be registered Democrats than the national average, with 62.5% registered to vote for the party.

The amount Billows earn in different countries varies notably. In United States they earn 22.98% more than the national average, earning $53,064 USD per year and in Canada they earn 2.86% more than the national average, earning $51,104 CAD per year.

Phonetically Similar Names

SurnameSimilarityWorldwide IncidencePrevalency
Billiows931/
Bellows865,772/
Villows861/
Billobs861/
Billews860/
Billaws860/
Blows831,579/
Billoufs800/
Blouws77153/
Blowse771/
Bloews770/
Blowhs770/
Billiauws7518/
Vellows711/
Billubs711/
Bellaws711/
Bellews711/
Billufs710/
Blews67207/
Blauws627/
Blaaws624/
Bellabs571/
Blawz501/
Blavs501/
Blewz500/

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Footnotes

  • Surnames are taken as the first part of an person's inherited family name, caste, clan name or in some cases patronymic
  • Descriptions may contain details on the name's etymology, origin, ethnicity and history. They are largely reproduced from 3rd party sources; diligence is advised on accepting their validity - more information
  • Name distribution statistics are generated from a global database of over 4 billion people - more information
  • Heatmap: Dark red means there is a higher occurrence of the name, transitioning to light yellow signifies a progressively lower occurrence. Clicking on selected countries will show mapping at a regional level
  • Rank: Name are ranked by incidence using the ordinal ranking method; the name that occurs the most is assigned a rank of 1; name that occur less frequently receive an incremented rank; if two or more name occur the same number of times they are assigned the same rank and successive rank is incremented by the total preceeding names
  • Ethnic group cannot necessarily be determined by geographic occurrence
  • Similar: Names listed in the "Similar" section are phonetically similar and may not have any relation to Billows
  • To find out more about this surname's family history, lookup records on Family​Search, My​Heritage, FindMyPast and Ancestry. Further information may be obtained by DNA analysis