# Cowan (surname)

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

A Scottish surname from Scottish Gaelic; an anglicization of mac Eoghainn (“son of Ewen”)

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | Scottish Gaelic |
| Type | patronymic, formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 32,586 |
| US rank (2010) | 1,074 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 9,475 people |
| Change since 2000 | +1.1% (32,242 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | Cowans, Cowin, Cowing |

## Who carries it

Share of people named Cowan 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) | 79% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 15% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.3% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.5% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.6% |
| Two or more races | 2.0% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Cowan in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia.

## People named Cowan

- Edith Cowan, Australian politician
- Mo Cowan, 29th United States Senator from Massachusetts (Class 2)
- Jerome Cowan, American actor (1897–1972)
- Elliot Cowan, British actor
- Caylee Cowan, American actress
- Dwayne Cowan, British athlete
- Juliet Cowan, British actress
- Richard Sumner Cowan, American botanist (1921–1997)
- George Cowan, American physical chemist, businessman and philanthropist (1920–2012)
- Edgar Cowan, American politician (1815–1885)
- Ed Cowan, Australian cricketer

## Similar surnames

Cowen, Cowin, Conway, Coon, Conn, Cohn, Conaway, Coen, Coan, Cohan, Coin, Chen.

## 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.