Show ContentsBohr History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

The Danish surname Bohr has the same entomology as the German / Jewish name Bauer. It was essentially a status surname, meaning either "peasant" or "neighbor." The name came originally from the Middle High German word "bur," referring to a small dwelling or building, which it turn evolved from the Old High German word "buan," meaning "to cultivate."

Bohr Spelling Variations

Spelling variations of this family name include: Bauer, Boere, Boer, Pauer, Bohr and others.

Early Notables of the Bohr family

Prominent among bearers of this surname in early times were

  • Caspar Bohrer, born 1744 at Mannheim, trumpeter in the court band who was a remarkable performer on the double-bass

Bohr Ranking

In the United States, the name Bohr is the 14,401st most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. 1


United States Bohr migration to the United States +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Bohr Settlers in United States in the 18th Century
  • Mattys Bohr, who arrived in New York in 1709 2
  • Johan Adam Bohr, who landed in Pennsylvania in 1749 2
  • Friedrich Bohr, who landed in America in 1749 2
  • Johan Matthias Bohr, who arrived in Pennsylvania in 1749 2
  • Johan Michel Bohr, who landed in Pennsylvania in 1749 2
  • ... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)
Bohr Settlers in United States in the 19th Century
  • Mathias Bohr, who landed in Brazil in 1827 2
  • F Bohr, who landed in Galveston, Texas in 1851 2
  • Joseph Bohr, who arrived in America in 1867 2

Australia Bohr migration to Australia +

Emigration to Australia followed the First Fleets of convicts, tradespeople and early settlers. Early immigrants include:

Bohr Settlers in Australia in the 19th Century
  • Rud. Bohr, aged 23, who arrived in South Australia in 1857 aboard the ship "Malvina Vidal"

Contemporary Notables of the name Bohr (post 1700) +

  • Harald August Bohr (1887-1951), Danish mathematician son of Niels Bohr
  • Christian Bohr (1855-1911), Danish physician and physiologist
  • Aage Neils Bohr (b. 1922), Danish physicist and the son of Margrethe and Niels Bohr who, like his father, received a Nobel Prize in Physics (1975)
  • Niels Henrik David Bohr (1885-1962), Danish physicist who made fundamental contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum mechanics, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922


  1. "What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
  2. Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)


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