Bowen

An Irish surname of Cork. In the 2010 US census it was carried by 78,822 people, the 407th most common surname in the country.

Bowen is the anglicised form of four distinct Irish names. Some you can hear in the English name; others look and sound nothing like it, and were simply swapped for it.

Bóinn

de Bothún

Ó Buadhacháin, descendant of Buadhachán (diminutive of Buadhach, victorious). This family stood in Co. Cork, Co. Kerry, Co. Kilkenny, Co. Offaly, and Co. Tipperary.

Ó Cnáimhín, descendant of Cnáimhín (diminutive of cnámh , a bone, an old Irish personal name)

Where the name comes from

de Bothún means of Bohun, and it occurs as a surname in Domesday Book. Boone, Bone and Bowen all come out of it.

The better story is Ó Cnáimhín, descendant of Cnáimhín, from cnámh, a bone. Bowen is intended as a translation of that bone, and so is Neville in parts of West Clare. The family was Dalcassian, descended from Coscrach, son of Lorcan, King of Munster.

Ó Buadhachán, descendant of the victorious one, is a third road to Bowen. In the 16th century it was found chiefly in Cork, Kerry, Tipperary, Offaly and Kilkenny.

Rugged Atlantic coastline at Allihies, Cork, Ireland, with layered slate cliffs, fine art landscape photograph by Peter Cox
Allihies Coast, Cork

Cork, photographed

Photographs made in Cork.

Cork

Cork is the largest county in Ireland. Three peninsulas run west into the Atlantic: Beara, Sheep's Head and Mizen, with the population thinning the further out you go. My gallery is in Glengarriff at the head of Bantry Bay, so it's the ground I photograph most.

Sunset over Dun an Oir ruins and sea stacks on Cape Clear Island, Cork, fine art landscape photograph by Peter CoxDún an Óir, Cape Clear Island, Cork Co. Cork The Fastnet Lighthouse standing proud on a calm summer evening off West Cork in black and white panoramic viewThe Fastnet Lighthouse, Co. Cork Co. Cork Aerial view of the Fastnet Lighthouse surrounded by angry seas off West Cork with Cape Clear Island on the horizonThe Fastnet from the Air Co. Cork Inside the rotating lantern of the Fastnet Lighthouse with Fresnel lenses, ladder, and a rainbow projected on a poleInside the Lantern, the Fastnet Lighthouse, Co. Cork Co. Cork The winding Healy Pass road climbing through the Caha Mountains on the Beara Peninsula, Cork on a cloudy dayThe Healy Pass, Co. Cork Co. Cork Long exposure of a small pier extending into a bay at sunset under heavy cloud, Lehanbeg, CorkLehanbeg Pier, Co. Cork Co. Cork Sunrise over Gougane Barra lake with mountains reflected in still water, County Cork, Ireland — fine art landscape photograph by Peter CoxA Morning at the Office, Gougane Barra, Co. Cork Co. Cork Long exposure of waves crashing against rocks at the Old Head of Kinsale lighthouse at dusk with its lantern shiningOld Head of Kinsale Lighthouse, Co. Cork Co. Cork Morning mist rising over the calm lake at Gougane Barra with St. Finbar's Oratory and surrounding mountains, CorkSt. Finbar's Oratory, Gougane Barra, Co. Cork Co. Cork Gannet hovering in flight over Bull Rock cliffs, Co. Cork, fine art wildlife photograph by Peter CoxGannet, Bull Rock, Co. Cork Co. Cork Black and white view from the Priest's Leap mountain pass looking south to Bantry Bay with a cross silhouetted against cloudThe Priest's Leap, Co. Cork Co. Cork

All Cork prints

Notable bearers

Elizabeth Bowen (1899-1973), writer and novelist.

Jarrod Bowen (born 1996), association football player.

Mark Bowen (born 1963), association football player and association football coach.

Andrea Bowen (born 1990), actor.

Stephen Bowen (born 1964), military officer, astronaut, and submariner.

About this page

The counties on this page are where the name was thickest on the ground in Ireland a century and a half ago, not a claim about any one family. Names moved around inside the country as much as they left it. The photographs are mine, made in the counties named.

More Irish surnames: Johnson · Collins · Murphy · Howard · Coleman · Hayes · Mason · Palmer · Warren · Ryan · Lane · Franklin

How common the name was

In 1890, 14 births were registered under Bowen in Ireland, most of them in Cork.

Munster 11
Connacht 1
Leinster 1
Ulster no figure printed
Ireland 14