George F. Howe

English: topographic name pronounced to rhyme with hoe, who, or how, from Middle English hoʒe ‘spur of a hill, steep ridge, or slight rise’. Hoʒe comes from a late variant, hōge, of the dative case of the Old English root word, hōh, literally ‘heel (of a person) or hock (of an animal)’, a common placename element. The regular Old English dative singular, hō, is the source of the placenames Hoo and Hoe and the surname may also be habitational name from a placename consisting of this word, for example Hoe (Norfolk), Hoo (Kent), Hooe (Devon, Sussex), or either of two places called The Hoo in Great Gaddesden and Saint Paul's Walden (Hertfordshire). Hose (Leicestershire) comes from the plural form of the word (see Howes ). Howe may also be from Old Norse haugr ‘mound, hill’, for without other evidence, this cannot be distinguished from howe ‘spur of a hill’ and is certainly the origin of Howe (Norfolk) and Howe Hill in Kirkburn (East Yorkshire). See also Hough .

English: variant of Hugh , pronounced to rhyme with who or how.

Americanized form of one or more similar (like-sounding) Jewish surnames.