How common is the surname Govan?

3,188 people in the United States had the surname Govan in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 96,846 Americans. It ranked 10,103rd of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Govan?

Gerald Govan, American basketball player.

Where is the surname Govan most common?

Wikidata records people named Govan in the United States.

Is the surname Govan getting more or less common?

More common. 2,846 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 3,188 in 2010, up 12%.

The surname Govan

An Irish surname, carried by 3,188 people in the United States.

2 syllables Soundex G150

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Govan is more common than 93.8% of them.

Origin

Irish origin

Uncertain. Traditionally said to derive from Irish gobán (“gag, muzzle”), equivalent to gob (“beak”) + -án. Clancy (1997) and Forsyth (2002) preferred a Cumbric formation, equivalent to Welsh go- (“under”) + fan, the soft mutation of ban (“peak”).

One of 880 Irish surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 3,188 people named Govan in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 96,846 Americans. That is up 12% since 2000, when the Census counted 2,846.

#10,103

rank among US surnames

3,188

people in 2010

1.1

per 100,000 Americans

+12%

change since 2000 (was #10,375)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#10,095	Perrault	3,190	96,785
#10,099	Standish	3,189	96,816
#10,103	Genao	3,188	96,846
#10,107	Calabro	3,187	96,877

Who is named Govan

Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

70% of people named Govan identified as Black (not Hispanic), 20% as white (not Hispanic) and 3.2% as Asian and Pacific Islander.

Black (not Hispanic) 70%
White (not Hispanic) 20%
Asian and Pacific Islander 3.2%
Two or more races 3.1%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 3.1%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.6%

Compare: most common surnames among Black Americans.

Famous Govans

1 notable person on Wikidata, most written-about first

Gerald Govan
American basketball player, born 1942

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Govan

Govan has the Soundex code G150, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code G150.

Other Irish surnames

All 880 Irish surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Govan come from?: Uncertain. Traditionally said to derive from Irish gobán (“gag, muzzle”), equivalent to gob (“beak”) + -án. Clancy (1997) and Forsyth (2002) preferred a Cumbric formation, equivalent to Welsh go- (“under”) + fan, the soft mutation of ban (“peak”).
How common is the surname Govan?: 3,188 people in the United States had the surname Govan in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 96,846 Americans. It ranked 10,103rd of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Govan?: In the 2010 Census, 70% of people named Govan identified as Black (not Hispanic), and 20% as white (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Govan?: Gerald Govan, American basketball player.
Where is the surname Govan most common?: Wikidata records people named Govan in the United States.
Is the surname Govan getting more or less common?: More common. 2,846 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 3,188 in 2010, up 12%.