Bu
loc · Latin script
Meaning: mother
Recorded for both men and women· direction only, no split published
Bu is a name written in the Latin script, with more bearers in Germany than in any other country.
- DEGermany≈1 in 32K(inferred from the name graph)
- USUnited States1 in 336K
- PHPhilippines≈1 in 106Kas Bue
carrying the name, as counted by its national register where one exists and as Mondonomo estimates it elsewhere (marked ≈ and "est." on hover). Where a country counts another spelling of the name rather than Bu itself, the figure is that spelling’s, and it is named. One hue, darker where it is more common; hover a country for its figure.
- Germany (inferred from the name graph)
- Sources
- 209 (measured from records)
- ≈1 in 22K (inferred from the name graph)
≈2,500 people, est.
Highest-authority source
Hong Kong, est.
measured from records inferred from the name graph
Spellings & scripts(measured from records)
Locally spelled Bue in US United States, PH Philippines, NO Norway and 2 more, Bü in DE Germany, Buee in FR France and Bu'E in HK Hong Kong.
Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records, and ○ marks a model's transliteration; click a spelling to open its page.
Meaning & origin(measured from records)
mother
Sources 1
- kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)
Attested across 9 languages in the etymology graph.
Where in the world(measured from records)
Bu counted together with the spellings and other-language forms grouped with it. Where a register counted another spelling, the row names it.
Sorted by bearers: national registers' counts, and Mondonomo's estimates (≈, est.) where no register counts.
| Country | Most common spelling | Sources | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DE Germany | ≈2,500 est. | ≈1 in 32K | — | Bü | 75 |
| PH Philippines | ≈1,000 est. | ≈1 in 106K | — | BUe | 29 |
| US United States | 989 | 1 in 336K | 1.5K | BUe | 209 |
| NO Norway | 738as Bue | 1 in 7.4K | 738 | BUe | 19 |
| FR France | ≈670 est. | ≈1 in 102K | 89 | Buee | 3 |
| HK Hong Kong | ≈330 est. | ≈1 in 22K | — | Bu'E | 13 |
| AT Austria | ≈180 est. | ≈1 in 49K | — | BUe | 20 |
| SG Singapore | ≈100 est. | ≈1 in 60K | — | BUe | 22 |
Exact figures are national registers' own counts, while figures marked ≈ and est. are Mondonomo’s estimates, counted from our sources and calibrated against those registers; hover one for how far to trust it in that country. A dash means neither exists.
Registers cited: Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2010; Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2020; SSB — Navnesøk (name-search service, living population); INSEE — Fichier des noms de famille (1891–2000). Figures without a register are Mondonomo estimates; see Methodology.
Country figures for a list of names, at full precision, are available under licence rather than by scraping this table (how that works).
Other recorded senses(measured from records)
Bu is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.
In German, probably from ahd. būan 'to dwell'
as a nameDeutsche Namenkunde: Unsere Familiennamen nach ihrer Entstehung und Bedeutung
In lua, sub. conj., if; in neg. constructions it has the meaning of if not, unless, except. §§ 459 (c), 460 (c).
as a wordGrammar and Dictionary of the Buluba-Lulua Language
In Akan, V. [red. bubu] A. to bend, fold; B. to crack, break, cut Sc, A. 1. tr. to bend, crook, curve; intr. to bend, crook, be curved; syn. kyea, koa, konton ; - epo abu dgnngn, abu kg asase no mu, Ihe sea has formed a bay; bu braka, to take a round-about way
as a wordDictionary of the Asante and Fante Language called Tshi (Chwee, Twi)
In lua, like to, such as, equal to, of same or similar kind or sort or quality or character or species or variety; hence used in expressing such ideas as mate, match.
as a wordGrammar and Dictionary of the Buluba-Lulua Language
In Akan, followed by other verbs: bu.. bg hO, due so, to ho, s. 2; gu so, 5 b); fra, gu so, bye mu, ka ho, si so, tia, 23; tew, 25
as a wordDictionary of the Asante and Fante Language called Tshi (Chwee, Twi)
Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.
Notable people with this name(measured from records)
- Bu Lianshib. 150CNEastern Wu noble lady (died 238)
- Lü Bub. 160CNChinese warlord and general
- Bu Shangb. 507CN5th-century BC prominent disciple of Confucius
- Choe Bub. 1454KRKorean official (1454-1504)
- Grandprince Jeongwonb. 1580KRnot in their usual namePrince of Joseon Dynastys (1580-1619)
- Bu Wancangb. 1903CNChinese film director (1903-1974)
- Eric Moob. 1963MYnot in their usual nameMalaysian singer
- Boo Ji-youngb. 1971KRnot in their usual nameSouth Korean director and scriptwriter
- Boo Seong-cheolb. 1972KRnot in their usual nameSouth Korean film director
- Boo Seung-kwanb. 1998KRnot in their usual nameSouth Korean singer
The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).
Evidence(measured from records)
Attested in 30 sources across 17 countries.
| Country | Register | Year | Count | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US United States | Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex | 2020 | 334 | #16,909 |
| US United States | Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex | 2020 | 326 | #16,909 |
| NO Norway | SSB — Navnesøk (name-search service, living population) | — | 10 | #23,961 |
Reference works 3
- Dictionary of American Family Names
- Wikipedia surname tokens
- Wikidata name items (native-script + romanized given/family names)
These works list the name; their figures are licensed and are not reproduced here.
Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.
Frequently asked questions
- What does the name Bu mean, and where does it come from?
- mother Recorded by kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations).
- In which country does Bu have the most bearers?
- Mondonomo estimates about 2.5 thousand people named Bu in Germany, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled bü.
- How common is the name Bu?
- In the United States, the national register counted 989 people named Bu in 2010, about 1 in 336 thousand residents.
What do you want to know about Bu?
Nobody replies to these one by one, but what readers ask decides what these pages answer next.
Query this name via API
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" https://api.mondonomo.ai/api/v1/name-graph/buThe payload this page is built from: spellings and scripts, countries and languages, related names, and the registers that attest the form. It takes a free API key (1,000 requests a day), which returns what this page shows everyone; the full country table, every register citation and the year-by-year series come with a licensed key, as does bulk access.
About this data
measured from records inferred from the name graph machine-generated
These figures come from the data snapshot of and will change as it is rebuilt.
Statistics are aggregated from the Mondonomo name corpus; related names and etymology are inferred from the name graph; pronunciation and any machine-marked transliterations are model-generated. Read how the numbers are made, including their known failure modes, and where the data comes from.
Reference works we consult — surname dictionaries, official name registers, Wikidata and Wiktionary — are named directly, beside the claims they support. The per-country source counts also include datasets of person records: we publish how many there are and their authority tier, but not their names.
Cite this page Mondonomo, “Bu”. Data snapshot 2026-10-10.