Lowis
A masculine name of Old German origin, meaning "renowned warrior".
Name Census estimates that about 4 living Americans carry the first name Lowis. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Lowis today is around 83 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lowis births was 1918 (9 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lowis. 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 Lowis with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Lowis is about 83 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Lowis' were born before 1953.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Lowis. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
4
~ 1 in 85,688,585 Americans
Peak year
1918
9 babies that year
Average age
83
years old
1938 SSA rank
#3,835
Tracked since 1913
Popularity
Lowis: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lowis from the 1910s through to the 1930s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 32 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Lowis remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lowis 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 Lowis during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lowis
The given name Lowis has its origins in the Germanic languages, where it emerged as a variant of the more common name Louis. The name Louis itself is derived from the Frankish Chlodovech, which later evolved into Clovis in French and Ludwig in German.
Lowis is believed to have first appeared as a distinct name in the Middle Ages, particularly in regions with significant Germanic influence, such as parts of France, Germany, and the Low Countries. It was likely a regional or dialectal variation of the more widespread Louis.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Lowis can be found in the chronicles of the French historian Jean Froissart, who mentioned a Lowis de Bourbon, a 14th-century French nobleman and member of the House of Bourbon.
In the 15th century, Lowis van Gent was a notable Flemish painter and manuscript illuminator, known for his contributions to the Ghent Altarpiece and other works commissioned by the Burgundian court.
During the 16th century, Lowis Garret was a prominent English Protestant reformer and martyr, who was burned at the stake in 1555 for his religious beliefs during the reign of Queen Mary I.
In the 17th century, Lowis Muggleton was an English religious dissenter and co-founder of the Muggletonian sect, which believed in the divine inspiration of him and his cousin, John Reeve.
Another notable figure with the name Lowis was Lowis Petit, a French sculptor and architect who lived in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, known for his work on several royal projects, including the Palace of Versailles.
While not as common as its parent name Louis, the variant Lowis has persisted over the centuries, particularly in regions with Germanic cultural influences, serving as a reminder of the rich linguistic diversity that has shaped many given names throughout history.
People
Lowis + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lowis 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
Lowis: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lowis?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lowis 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 85,688,585 US residents.
Is Lowis a common name?
We classify Lowis as "Very Rare". It ranks above 6.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 56 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lowis most popular?
The single biggest year for Lowis was 1918, when 9 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lowis is about 83 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Lowis in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lowis a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Lowis 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 Lowis still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lowis 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 Lowis 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people share the name Lowis?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.