About the Bothe Surname

Seen on a birth certificate or a ship's manifest, Bothe is usually a form of Bode. The name is generally explained as “messenger”.

• Spellings drifted because names were written down by ear in parish books, tax rolls and passenger lists.
• Before spelling was fixed, Bode was also written Bothe.
• The same family of names includes Boden.

Bothe coat of arms

Arms linked to Bode and its spellings were granted to individual families; our heraldry team traces which line they belonged to. Get the complete Bothe report, with a museum-style coat of arms.