Type Surname (from nickname)
Usage Scottish
Meaning & History
Anglicized form of Scottish Gaelic Buidheach, derived from buidhe meaning "yellow". A famous bearer was the American pioneer James Bowie (1796-1836), for whom the bowie knife is named. The British musician David Bowie (1947-2016), born David Robert Jones, took his stage name from the American pioneer (and the knife).