# Coward (surname)

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

A surname originating as an occupation.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | English |
| Type | occupational, named after the work an ancestor did |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 5,720 |
| US rank (2010) | 6,012 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 53,976 people |
| Change since 2000 | -2.7% (5,880 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

From Old English cūhierde (“cowherd”). Doublet of Cowherd and cowherd.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Coward 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) | 60% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 34% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 3.2% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.6% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.3% |
| Two or more races | 2.2% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Coward in the United States.

## People named Coward

- Cedric Coward, American basketball player (born 2002)

## Similar surnames

Cowart, Card, Corrado, Corado, Chard, Cowherd, Cerda, Carty, Creed, Croteau, Charette, Carruth.

## 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.