Of Mecklenburg origin, its members have borne the title of Baron (Freiherr), Count (Graf) or Prince (Fürst).

[1] The family traces its main line back to one knight Godofridus de Bulowe, mentioned in a 1229 deed.

As Bülow was also a word for oriole in the local dialect based on Wendish roots[citation needed], the bird is depicted as a crest in the family's coat of arms.

In Mecklenburg the family acquired around 110 estates, castles or villages from 1229 onwards, nine of which remained in its possession until the confiscations in communist East Germany in 1945.

The most notable family members are Hans von Bülow (1830–1894), pianist, conductor and composer who married Liszt's daughter Cosima, who later left him for Richard Wagner, and Prince Bernhard von Bülow (1849–1929), Chancellor of Germany from 1900 to 1909.