# Bowden (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/bowden/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | English |
| Type | patronymic, formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 24,560 |
| US rank (2010) | 1,450 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 12,571 people |
| Change since 2000 | +3.7% (23,677 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈbaʊdən/, 2 syllables |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

* As an English surname, from several places in England, derived from Old English boga (“bow”) + dun (“hill”). * Also as an English surname, from Old English būfan dun (“above the hill”). * As a Scottish surname, from the place in Roxburghshire from Old English bōthl (“dwelling house”) + denu (“valley”). * As an Irish surname, Anglicized from Ó Buadáin (literally “descendant of Buadán”). * Also as an English surname, variant of Bawden.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Bowden in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 73% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 21% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.5% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.5% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.4% |
| Two or more races | 2.0% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Bowden in the United States and Australia.

## People named Bowden

- Katrina Bowden, American actress and model
- Mark Bowden, American journalist and writer (born 1951)
- Lemuel J. Bowden, American politician (1815-1864)
- Frank Philip Bowden, Australian physicist
- Scott Bowden, Australian cyclist
- Michael Bowden, American baseball player
- Charles Bowden, American writer (1945-2014)

## Similar surnames

Bodine, Boden, Bodden, Baden, Boyden, Bodin, Biden, Botten, Batten, Button, Beaudoin, Beaton.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.