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Name Lineage

    The surname McDowell

    An Irish patronymic surname, carried by 49,217 people in the United States.

    3 syllables Soundex M234

    McDowell: #702 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#10,001Dubon McDowell #702, 49,217 people McDowell: #702 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#100Jimenez McDowell #702, 49,217 people
    Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). McDowell is more common than 99.6% of them.

    Origin

    Irish origin

    Anglicized form of Irish and Scottish Gaelic MacDubhghaill (“son of the dark stranger”), equivalent to mac + Dubhghall.

    McDowell is a patronymic surname: formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.

    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 49,217 people named McDowell in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 6,273 Americans. That is up 3.6% since 2000, when the Census counted 47,526.

    #702
    rank among US surnames
    49,217
    people in 2010
    17
    per 100,000 Americans
    +3.6%
    change since 2000 (was #652)
    RankSurnamePeople1 in
    #693Pitts49,7406,207
    #694Parrish49,7336,208
    #695Ponce49,5496,231
    #696Rich49,4816,240
    #697Booth49,4026,250
    #698Koch49,3956,251
    #699Golden49,3606,255

    Who is named McDowell

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

    70% of people named McDowell identified as white (not Hispanic), 25% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.3% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

    • White (not Hispanic) 70%
    • Black (not Hispanic) 25%
    • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.3%
    • Two or more races 2.1%
    • American Indian and Alaska Native 0.6%
    • Asian and Pacific Islander 0.5%

    Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

    Spellings and sound-alikes

    Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

    Variant spellings

    • Madole

    Surnames that sound like McDowell

    McDowell has the Soundex code M234, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code M234.

    Other Irish surnames

    All 880 Irish surnames

    Questions

    Where does the surname McDowell come from?
    Anglicized form of Irish and Scottish Gaelic MacDubhghaill (“son of the dark stranger”), equivalent to mac + Dubhghall.
    How common is the surname McDowell?
    49,217 people in the United States had the surname McDowell in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 6,273 Americans. It ranked 702nd of 162,253 surnames.
    What ethnicity is the surname McDowell?
    In the 2010 Census, 70% of people named McDowell identified as white (not Hispanic), and 25% as Black (not Hispanic).
    What type of surname is McDowell?
    McDowell is a patronymic surname, formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.
    Is the surname McDowell getting more or less common?
    More common. 47,526 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 49,217 in 2010, up 3.6%.
    What are other spellings of McDowell?
    Madole.