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In researching the origin of the Rowe surname for my family history, here is the info I came across:
The surname ROWE is quite common Great Britain, and is the 370th most common name in the United States, with nearly 65,000 possessing it, according to a recent census.
There are different origins resulting in the same name.
One version of the name ROWE comes from the Irish-Gaelic word "ruad-han", meaning "red-haired".
Another origin is from the Norman family name DeRohaut. Rohaut was a Breton nobleman who had four sons that accompanied William the Conqueror to England in 1066. One of these sons, Ruald FitzRohaut, held three lordships en capite in Devon in 1086. His grandson, Alan FitzRohaut, married Lady Alicia de Dodbrooke, and acquired additional estates near Tavistock in Devon, which is separated from Cornwall by the River Tamar.
A third origin is Anglo-Saxon (the languages of two Germanic tribes who invaded England in the 5th century, AD). ROWE from the word "roew" may have indicated "dweller on the row, or street, of houses".
Then there is the ROWE that comes from origin that means "dweller of the rough, or uncultivated, land; one who lived at the hedgerow.", a definition I read several years ago. This origin may be derived from the Old English root word "ruh", which, in turn, seems to be related to old Germanic words meaning "rough" or "shaggy". Recently I came across a notation in a book of Cornish Christian names which stated that that the Cornish translator, William Rowe of Sancreed (who translated part of the Bible into Cornish), would 'cornicize' his name as "Wella Kerew". "Kerew" is very similar in pronunciation to the Cornish word "garow" which means "rough". There is also a Cornish word, "ros", which means "moorland or heathland", which was also suggested as a possible origin by a Cornish language expert whom I contacted about it.
Most recently however, it was brought to my attention that the name Rowe is a variation of another Cornish name, "Raw". The book "Names for the Cornish", has this entry:
"RAW - A colloquial form of RALPH current in pre-18th century Cornwall. RALPH, from the Old English RAEDWULF (=Old Norse RATHULFR), a compound of RAED "counsel" and WULF "wolf", was later reinforced by Norman influence. It developed into RAUF or RAFF, which were the usual forms of the name until the 17th century. Carew (1555-1620) regarded the name RAW as the Cornish counterpart of RAFE, the standard form of the name by this time." The book contained an appendix which contained a notation that connected the name ROWE and ROW to the RAW origin.
Ralph : Ralf de Tankerville was the chamberlain for William the Conqueror, and from his name a number of given names were derived. From Ralf came: Raff, Ralph, Rand, Randall, Randolph, Rankin, Ransom, Ranson, Rawlings, Rawson , and Rawle .
Similarly, another book on Cornish name etymology relates the name Rowe to Rudolphus, also by way of the name Ralph.
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