This is very much a northern English and Scottish surname, and is a diminutive form of the personal name "Lawrence", which derives from the Latin "Laurentus", itself from "Laurentium", "the city of laurels", in Italy. Laurels were the symbol of victory, and this probably helped account for the popularity of the name and the number of variants and diminutives it generated. The personal name was introduced into England by the Normans after the Conquest of 1066, in the Latin form "Laurentius", and it was first recorded in Scotland in the person of Lowry Smith in 1467, in the Register of Dunfermline. The diminutive forms of the surname Lowrie or Lowrey first appear in England in the 14th Century (see below), and in Scotland in 1497, when one Gilbert Lowrie is recorded in Coldingham. Among the recordings from London Church Registers is the marriage of James Lowery and Isabella Login on September 12th 1678, at St. Katherine by the Tower. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert Lowri, which was dated 1332, in the "Subsidy Rolls of Cumberland", during the reign of King Edward 111, known as "The Father of the Navy", 1327 - 1377. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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