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The GOWER surname in the USA

Frequency Comparisons
Total Rank Frequency % Per million people
United States
United States (Current snapshot) 6,469 4982 0.002 24
United States (1880 census) 1,211 4644 0.002 24
Change since 1880 +5258 -338 0 0
Other Countries
Australia 919 1785 0.006 56
United Kingdom 4,167 1508 0.009 91
Top States for GOWER by Total
State Total Rank in State Frequency % Per million people
Pennsylvania 732 1992 0.006 60
California 408 6610 0.001 12
Texas 360 5475 0.002 17
Tennessee 318 2503 0.006 56
Florida 310 6197 0.002 19
Top States for GOWER by Frequency
State Total Rank in State Frequency % Per million people
Maine 145 1611 0.011 114
West Virginia 167 1512 0.009 92
Oklahoma 225 2073 0.007 65
Pennsylvania 732 1992 0.006 60
Tennessee 318 2503 0.006 56

Notes

'A figure of zero indicates that we don't have data for this name (usually because it's quite uncommon and our stats don't go down that far). It doesn't mean that there's no-one with that name at all!

For less common surnames, the figures get progressively less reliable the fewer holders of that name there are. This data is aggregated from several public lists, and some stats are interpolated from known values. The margin of error is well over 100% at the rarest end of the table!

For less common surnames, the frequency and "per million" values may be 0 even though there are people with that name. That's because they represent less than one in a million of the population, which ends up as 0 after rounding.

It's possible for a surname to gain in rank and/or total while being less common per million people (or vice versa) as there are now more surnames in the USA as a result of immigration. In mathematical terms, the tail has got longer, with a far larger number of less common surnames.

Figures for top states show firstly the states where most people called GOWER live. This obviously tends to be biased towards the most populous states. The second set of figures show where people called GOWER represent the biggest proportion of the population. So, in this case, there are more people called GOWER in Pennsylvania than any other state, but you are more likely to find a GOWER by picking someone at random in Maine than anywhere else.

Classification and Origin of GOWER

Region of origin: British Isles

Country of origin: England

Language of origin: English

Ethnic origin: English

Religious origin: Christian

Name derivation: Occupational Name

Data for religion and/or language relates to the culture in which the GOWER surname originated. It does not necessarily have any correlation with the language spoken, or religion practised, by the majority of current American citizens with that name.

Data for ethnic origin relates to the region and country in which the GOWER surname originated. It does not necessarily have any correlation with the ethnicity of the majority of current American citizens with that name.

Ethnic distribution of GOWER in the USA

Classification Total Percent
Black/African American 112 1.73
Mixed Race 79 1.22
White (Hispanic) 77 1.19
Native American/Alaskan 63 0.97
Asian/Pacific 36 0.56
White (Caucasian) 6,102 94.33

Ethnic distribution data shows the number and percentage of people with the GOWER surname who reported their ethnic background as being in these broad categories in the most recent national census.

Meaning of GOWER in historical publications

(origin: Local Welsh.) Gwyr, a place in Glamorganshire, a place inclosed round, encircled. This peninsula is mostly surrounded by the sea and rivers.

Arthur, William (1857) An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names. New York: Sheldon, Blakeman. Public Domain.


GOWER. "All our Antiquaries agree that this family is one of the oldest in the county of York, and of Anglo-Saxon origin, though they differ as to its patriarch, whom some will have to be Sir Alan Gower, said to be sheriff of that county at the time of the Norman Conquest, A.D. lOGG, and lord of Stittcnham in the same county, now possessed by the Duke of Sutherland, the chief of the house while others with greater probability assert that it descended from one Guhyer, whose son, called William Fitz-Guhyer of Stittenham, was charged with a mark for his lauds in the sheriff's account, 11G7, 13 Henry II., and that Alan was very likely his son." Collins' Peerage 17G8, V. 340. The poet Gower is said to have been of the Stittenham stock, though he did not bear the same arms. Lelaud says : " The house of Gower the poet yet remaineth at Switenham (Stittenham), in Yorkshire, and divers of them sjns have been knightes." The noble Gowers pronounce their name as if written Gore, but a jeomanry family in the south of England make it rhyme with ' power,' or ' shower.'

Lower, Mark A (1860) Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom. London: J.R. Smith. Public Domain.


Similar names to GOWER

The following names have similar spellings or pronunciations as GOWER.

This does not necessarily imply a direct relationship between the names, but may indicate names that could be mistaken for this one when written down or misheard.

Matches are generated automatically by a combination of Soundex, Metaphone and Levenshtein matching.

Potential typos for GOWER

The following words are slight variants of GOWER that are likely to be possible typos or misspellings in written material.