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-(source Bill Bowman)german (Baumann). mmeans builder, construction, etc. -British meaning Bowman, Archer(bet you would NEVER have figured that one out huh?) -(source Bernard Wilson) Some Bowmans are actually Anglicized "Baumanns," with Bauman meaning "farmer" in German. - First found in Westmoreland and Northumberland
Note by Russell W. Behne:
The German word Baum means tree. Baumman thus translates as tree-man. But Bauman (with one n as in Bernard Wilson's incorrect translation) doesn't translate at all. Maybe Baumman (with double m) comes from an archaic word for arborist or forrester, but I don't know the etymology, so I can't say for sure.
The German word for farmer is Farmer, not Bauman as incorrectly suggested by Bernard Wilson. Other German words for farmer are Ackerbauer, Bauer, Gutsherr, Landwirt, Pächter, and Landwirte, but not Bauman. There is no such word as "Bauerman".
Builder is Erbauer, construction is Bau, "construction worker" is Bauarbeiter, and finally, "construction man" is Baumann. So the translation suggested as the source of the name by Bill Bowman is correct, but still speculation.
THEREFORE, if the name is Anglicized from German, then it likely comes from Baumann. More likely is that it comes from the English word for a bowman (archer). The only way to be sure is to trace through the genealogy to see where the paternal ancestors actually came from, England or Germany.