An Irish and English surname, the Howe name comes from the Old English term ‘hoh’ and the Old Norse term ‘haugr‘ which means a hill or burial mound. The spelling variations for Howe include Hows, Howison, Howes, Hoy, Hoe, Howin, Hoey, Hough, Haughey and How. Many the various forms of spelling are based on their location in England. In Kent the surname is spelled Hoo. In Sussex and Devon the Howe surname is Hooe. The northern region of Durham has the Heugh spelling, but it is Hough in Chesire county. The more common Irish form is spelled Hoey and Hough. In England the earliest Howe families came from Berkshire. Over the centuries they spread all across Wales and England. The Howe families are most populated in the city of London, in Essex, Middlesex, Suffolk, Durham, Yorkshire, Lanarkshire, Devon and Somerset counties. In Scotland there are Howe individuals all across the country. The largest concentrations are found in Angus, Perthshire, Dunbartonshire, Midlothian, Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire and Ayrshire. Within the United States the early Howe families first settled in Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire and Rhode Island. Famous: John Howe (an illustrator from Canada), Elias Howe (inventor of the first working at home sewing machine), Gordon “Gordie” Howe (champion hockey player from Canada), Tina Howe (playwright), Albion P. Howe (Civil War Union Army General), Dylan Howe (musician - drummer), Edgar Watson Howe (novelist and publisher of E. W. Howe’s Monthly), Les Howe (professional baseball player), Wallace Howe (actor), Virgil Howe (musician) and Gilman Bigelow Howe ( President of the National Genealogical Society).