Bowles, Boles, Boales, Bolles, Bowls ......even Bolds?

It's only now in the age of computers that the spelling of our name must not change.  In the past, a family knew its name no matter how the record keepers decided to write it down.  The church official or the land or immigration clerk could hear a name and then write down whatever the name sounded like regardless of a pre-conceived correct spelling of the name.  Many of these ancestors of ours signed their name with an X sometimes right until the 1900's.  In the 1800's in Canada we have examples where a father may have used Bolles while one son used Bowles and another used Boles.

If you feel that as a Boles you have nothing in common with the Bowles in your area, research a little more, you may be surprised.

It is quite likely that the roots of this surname are as complex as the various cultures which made up England and Ireland.  Angles, Saxons, Celts, Vikings, Normans.  All combined to form today's Bowles, Boles......

Rather than repeat all the reported theories I have included some links below to several sites which cover that topic.

Whether you're a Canadian descended from a Saxon Boll (a steward), a Viking named Bolla, a Norman named Bolle or Bouelles, a Scot named Boyle who may have descended from a Norman named Bouelles, from a Celt named Ó Baoighill (O'Boyle) and whether you spell your name Boles or Bowls or Boals, for the purposes of this site you are a Bowles in Canada.

Some Origin of the Bowles Surname References

A good Bowles Surname Origins site which I believe summarizes several other sites

In Irish Ancestors enter the name Bowles in the Search box

Bowles Surname History by Evan Bowles

Excerpt from the book: Irish families, Great and Small by Michael C. O’Laughlin

Excerpt from Family History: VA Genealogies #2 1600-1800 Genealoglies of Virginia Families Volume IV the Bowles, Anderson,and Shelton families as related to William Sims Of Union Co. SC

Excerpt from The Surnames of Ireland by Edward MacLysaght

Possible roots of the name Bolds and Bowles in Oxfordshire from A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 12

My own Notes on the Norman origin and the name Bole