# Dowden (surname)

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

A surname from Old English.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | English |
| Type | patronymic, formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 3,829 |
| US rank (2010) | 8,598 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 80,633 people |
| Change since 2000 | +6.2% (3,606 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | Dowding |

## Etymology

Patronymic surname, from an unattested Old English personal name *Dogod, perhaps derived from dugan (“to avail, serve”).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Dowden 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) | 84% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 10% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.6% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 1.1% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.4% |
| Two or more races | 1.7% |

## Similar surnames

Doten, Dutton, Deaton, Dayton, Dudney, Ditton, Dadiani.

## 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.