# Gow (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/gow/  
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.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | Scottish Gaelic |
| Type | occupational, named after the work an ancestor did |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 1,960 |
| US rank (2010) | 15,060 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 157,523 people |
| Change since 2000 | -8.9% (2,151 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ɡaʊ/, 1 syllable |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

From Scottish Gaelic gobha (“smith”).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Gow 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% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 3.9% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 6.8% |
| Two or more races | 2.6% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Gow in the United Kingdom.

## People named Gow

- Ian Gow, British Conservative MP killed by an IRA bomb (1937-1990)

## Similar surnames

Go, Goh, Goo, Goy, Gay, Guy, Gee, Gao, Guo, Gu, Guay, Gioia.

## 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.