Lowen
Transferred from the Old English masculine name meaning "little lion".
Name Census estimates that about 998 living Americans carry the first name Lowen. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 61.3% of registrations being male. The average person named Lowen today is around 9 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lowen births was 2024 (174 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lowen. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Lowen with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Lowen sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
People living today
998
~ 1 in 343,441 Americans
Peak year
2024
174 babies that year
Average age
9
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,973
Tracked since 1918
Census
Lowen in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 508 people with the first name Lowen, which placed it at #20,360 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
#20,360
National first-name rank
People counted
508
508 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
64.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lowen
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lowen is White at 64.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.2%) and Two or More Races (10.2%). 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 Lowen 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 Lowen at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White64.4% · 327
- Hispanic or Latino12.2% · 62
- Two or more races10.2% · 52
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.1% · 41
- Black or African American4.3% · 22
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Lowen
Lowen is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 1,016 total registrations, 623 (61.3%) were male and 393 (38.7%) were female.
Lowen as a male name
- Ranked #1,973 in 2024
- 79 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (79 births)
Lowen as a female name
- Ranked #2,045 in 2024
- 95 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (97 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Lowen on both sides of the split. Of the 514 people counted with this name, 384 were male (74.7%) and 130 were female (25.3%).
Popularity
Lowen: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lowen from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 575 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lowen 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 Lowen during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lowens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 11 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Lowen, while Pennsylvania, New York, North Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 13 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lowen
The given name Lowen has its origins in the medieval German language and is believed to have derived from the Old High German word "lewo," which means "lion." This suggests that the name was initially associated with strength, courage, and nobility, traits often attributed to the majestic lion.
During the Middle Ages, the name Lowen was commonly found in regions of present-day Germany and neighboring countries where Germanic languages were spoken. It likely emerged as a variation of the more common German name Löwe, which directly translates to "lion."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Lowen can be traced back to the 12th century, when it appeared in historical documents from the Holy Roman Empire. However, its usage remained relatively obscure until the late medieval period, when it gained popularity among noble families and the emerging merchant class.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Lowen. One of the earliest was Lowen von Stein (1390-1457), a German knight and military commander who fought in the Hussite Wars. Another prominent figure was Lowen Krüger (1515-1592), a German Protestant reformer and theologian who played a significant role in the Reformation.
In the realm of literature, Lowen Grimmelshausen (1625-1676) was a German author best known for his picaresque novel "Der Abenteuerliche Simplicissimus," which provided a vivid account of the Thirty Years' War. The name also appeared in the works of the renowned German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who featured a character named Lowen in his play "Götz von Berlichingen."
Moving into the modern era, Lowen Konig (1809-1897) was a German-American businessman and philanthropist who founded the Konig Brewery in Philadelphia, which became one of the largest breweries in the United States during the 19th century.
Another notable figure was Lowen Ranke (1795-1886), a German historian and a founder of modern source-based historical studies. His seminal work, "Histories of the Latin and Germanic Nations from 1494 to 1535," established him as one of the preeminent historians of his time.
While the name Lowen has maintained a presence throughout history, its usage has remained relatively limited compared to other German names. Nonetheless, it continues to carry a sense of strength and nobility, reflecting its origins and the legacy of those who have borne this unique moniker over the centuries.
People
Lowen + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lowen as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with L
Other first names starting with L with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Lowen: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lowen?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 998 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lowen 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 343,441 US residents.
Is Lowen a common name?
We classify Lowen as "Very Rare". It ranks above 90.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,016 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lowen most popular?
The single biggest year for Lowen was 2024, when 174 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lowen is about 9 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lowen in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 508 people with the name Lowen, or 0.17 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,360 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 Lowen 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 Lowen?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Lowen on both sides of the split. Of the 514 people counted with this name, 384 were male (74.7%) and 130 were female (25.3%). 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 Lowen?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lowen is White at 64.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.2%) and Two or More Races (10.2%). 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 Lowen most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lowen in the 2020 Census, accounting for 64.4% (327 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 Lowen in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lowen a male name?
Yes, 61.3% of people registered as Lowen 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 Lowen still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lowen 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 Lowen 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 have the name Lowen?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Lowen, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.