Howe (surname)
Howe is an English surname. Howe, when derived from the {{langx|non|haugr}}, means hill, knoll, or mound and may refer to a tumulus, or barrow.Kenneth Cameron (1963), English Place-names, p. 117. Taylor & Francis However, when derived from {{langx|ang|hol}}, it can refer to a hollow or dell.Eric Partridge (1977), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, p. 1370. Routledge. {{ISBN|0203421140}} Historically the surname was most commonly found in the Northeast of England and the Orkney and Shetland islands.
Notable people with the surname include:
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A–H
- Albion P. Howe (1818–1897), American Union Army general in the American Civil War
- Andrew Howe (born 1985), American-born Italian long jumper
- Anthony Howe (historian) (born 1950), English historian
- Anthony Howe (sculptor) (born 1954), American artist
- Art Howe (born 1946), American professional baseball player and manager
- Brian Howe (politician) (born 1936), Australian politician
- Brian Howe (singer) (1953–2020), English musician (Bad Company)
- C. D. Howe (1886–1960), Canadian politician
- Caroline Dana Howe (1824–1907), American writer
- Charlotte Howe, Viscountess Howe (1703–1782), British courtier and politician
- Clinton Howe, Australian politician
- Daniel Walker Howe (born 1937), American historian
- Darcus Howe (1943–2017), British broadcaster and columnist
- David Howe (speedway rider) (born 1982), British motorcycle speedway rider
- David A. Howe (born 1984), British writer,
- David J. Howe (born 1961), British writer, journalist, publisher, and media historian
- Denis Howe (1928–2020), English footballer
- Denis Howe (editor), editor, founder of the Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (FOLDOC)
- Don Howe (1935–2015), English footballer
- Don Howe (footballer, born 1917) (1917–1978), English footballer of the 1930s, '40s and '50s
- Dylan Howe (born 1969), English jazz drummer
- Eddie Howe (born 1977), football manager and former English footballer
- Edgar Watson Howe (1853–1937), American novelist
- Edward Gardiner Howe (1849–1931), American educator and author
- Elias Howe (1819–1867), American inventor of the sewing machine
- Eliot Howe (1882–1921), American film director
- Elizabeth Howe (1635–1692), accused of witchcraft and hanged during the Salem witch trials
- Elliot C. Howe (1828–1899), American botanist
- Emanuel Howe, 2nd Viscount Howe (1700–1735), British politician and colonial administrator
- Emeline Harriet Howe (1844–1934), American poet
- Eric Graham Howe (1897–1975), Unorthodox British psychiatrist
- Frederic C. Howe (1867–1940), Ohio Senator and commissioner of Ellis Island
- Geoffrey Howe (1926–2015), British politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer under Margaret Thatcher
- George Howe (disambiguation), several people
- Gilman Bigelow Howe (1850–1933), American genealogist
- Gordie Howe (1928–2016), Canadian Hall-of-Fame hockey player
- Greg Howe (born 1963), American musician
- Harrison E. Howe (1881–1942), American chemist
- Henry Howe (actor) (1812–1896), English actor
- Henry Marion Howe, (1848–1922), American metallurgist
- Herbert Alonzo Howe (1858–1926), American astronomer and educator
I–Z
- Irving Howe (1920–1993), American literary and social critic
- Jackie Howe (1861–1920), Australian sheep shearer
- James Lewis Howe (1859–1955), American chemist
- James Wong Howe (1899–1976), Chinese-born American cinematographer
- Jamie Howe (born 1984), American auto racing reporter
- Jeremy Howe (born 1990), Australian rules football player
- Jeremy Howe (English footballer) (born 1973), English footballer
- Jeremy Howe (radio drama editor) (born 1956), English radio drama editor
- John Howe (illustrator) (born 1957), Canadian illustrator
- John Howe (theologian) (1630–1705), English Puritan theologian
- John Grubham (Jack) Howe (1657–1722), English politician
- Joseph Howe (1804–1873), Nova Scotia politician
- Josias Howe (c.1611–1701), English divine
- Julia Ward Howe (1819–1910), American poet and author, best known as author of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic"
- Julie Howe, California screenwriter
- Leila Hassan Howe (born 1948), British editor and activist
- Les Howe (1895–1976), American baseball player
- Linda Moulton Howe (born 1942), American investigative journalist and documentary maker
- Louis McHenry Howe (1871–1936), political advisor to President Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Marie Howe (born 1950), American poet
- Marie E. Howe (1939–2024), American politician in Massachusetts
- Marie Jenney Howe (1870–1934), American feminist organizer and writer
- Mark Howe (born 1955), younger son of Gordie Howe, American–Canadian Hall-of-Fame hockey player
- Marshall Avery Howe (1867–1936), American botanist
- Marty Howe (born 1954), older son of Gordie Howe, American–Canadian hockey player
- Mary Howe (1882–1964), American composer and pianist
- Mary Howe (singer) (1870–1952), American operatic soprano
- Mary Washington Howe (1852–1900), American educator
- Michael Howe (bushranger) (1787–1818), Australian bushranger
- Michael Howe (psychologist) (1940–2002), British cognitive psychologist
- Mike Howe (1965–2021), American musician
- Neil Howe (born 1951), American historian, economist and demographer
- Oscar Howe (1915–1983), American Indian artist
- Paul Howe (born 1968), British swimmer
- Paul R. Howe (born 1959) U.S. Delta Force member and firearms instructor
- Rex Howe (1929–2024), British Anglican priest
- Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe (1726–1799), British admiral in the French Revolutionary Wars and American Revolution
- Robert Howe (Continental Army officer) (1732–1786), American general
- Roger Evans Howe (born 1945), American mathematician
- Russell Warren Howe (1925–2008), British author and journalist
- Samuel Gridley Howe (1801–1876), American abolitionist and educator
- Sarah Howe (born 1983), Chinese–British poet
- Sarah Howe (fraudster) (c. 1826–1892), American fraud artist
- Shauna Howe (1981–1992), American murder victim
- Sean Howe, American journalist and writer
- Scrope Howe, 1st Viscount Howe (1648–1714), English politician who took part in the Glorious Revolution
- Sonia E. Howe (1871–?), Russian essayist
- Steve Howe, (born 1947), English musician and songwriter (Yes)
- Steve Howe (baseball) (1958–2006), American baseball player
- Stuart Howe (born 1967), Canadian operatic tenor
- Susan Howe (born 1937), American poet, scholar, essayist, and critic
- Tamara Howe (born 1965), daughter of Darcus Howe, English television production manager
- Timothy J. Howe (Born 1970) US Army Veteran, Educator, Warwick RI Councilman 2017–2025
- Timothy O. Howe (1816–1883), American politician
- Tina Howe (1937–2023), American playwright
- Vic Howe (1929–2015), Canadian hockey player, Gordie Howe's brother
- W. B. W. Howe Jr. (1851–1912), American architect
- Wallace Howe (1878–1957), American actor
- Will D. Howe (1873–1946), American educator, editor, and writer
- William Howe (disambiguation) (1729–1815) British general in the American Revolution
- William B. W. Howe (1823–1894), sixth Bishop of South Carolina in the Episcopal Church
Fictional characters
- Cameron Howe, from the television drama series Halt and Catch Fire
- Rebecca Howe, on the sitcom Cheers
- Simon Howe, on the soap opera Brookside