How common is the surname Rowley?

15,588 people in the United States had the surname Rowley in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 19,807 Americans. It ranked 2,338th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Rowley?

Stan Rowley, Australian sprinter (1876-1924), followed by Janet Rowley.

Where is the surname Rowley most common?

Wikidata records people named Rowley in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia.

How do you pronounce Rowley?

Rowley is /ˈɹaʊli/, 2 syllables.

Is the surname Rowley getting more or less common?

More common. 14,760 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 15,588 in 2010, up 5.6%.

Is Rowley also a first name?

Yes. Rowley is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.

The surname Rowley

An English place surname, carried by 15,588 people in the United States.

Pronounced /ˈɹaʊli/ 2 syllables Soundex R400

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Rowley is more common than 98.6% of them.

Origin

English origin

From Old English components ruh (rough, overgrown) + leah (wood, clearing)

Rowley is a place surname: taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.

One of 1,446 English surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 15,588 people named Rowley in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 19,807 Americans. That is up 5.6% since 2000, when the Census counted 14,760.

#2,338

rank among US surnames

15,588

people in 2010

5.3

per 100,000 Americans

+5.6%

change since 2000 (was #2,261)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#2,329	Henriquez	15,657	19,719
#2,330	Skelton	15,624	19,761
#2,331	Cutler	15,621	19,765
#2,332	Vergara	15,618	19,769
#2,333	McGregor	15,614	19,774
#2,335	Goddard	15,599	19,793
#2,336	Lombardo	15,598	19,794

Who is named Rowley

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

90% of people named Rowley identified as white (not Hispanic), 4.5% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.9% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

White (not Hispanic) 90%
Black (not Hispanic) 4.5%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.9%
Two or more races 1.8%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.7%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.6%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Rowleys

7 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Stan Rowley
Australian sprinter (1876-1924)
Janet Rowley
American human geneticist (1925–2013)
Coleen Rowley
American FBI agent, whistleblower, political candidate for Congress, born 1954
Jeremy Rowley
American actor, born 1974
Gordon Douglas Rowley
Botanist and writer (1921-2019)
Sally Rowley
American jeweler and civil rights activist (1931-2020)
Lee Rowley
British Conservative party politician (born 1980)

Notable Rowleys come mostly from the United States (4), the United Kingdom (2) and Australia (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Rowley

Rowley has the Soundex code R400, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code R400.

Other English surnames

All 1,446 English surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Rowley come from?: From Old English components ruh (rough, overgrown) + leah (wood, clearing)
How common is the surname Rowley?: 15,588 people in the United States had the surname Rowley in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 19,807 Americans. It ranked 2,338th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Rowley?: In the 2010 Census, 90% of people named Rowley identified as white (not Hispanic), and 4.5% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Rowley?: Stan Rowley, Australian sprinter (1876-1924), followed by Janet Rowley.
Where is the surname Rowley most common?: Wikidata records people named Rowley in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia.
How do you pronounce Rowley?: Rowley is /ˈɹaʊli/, 2 syllables.
What type of surname is Rowley?: Rowley is a place surname, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.
Is the surname Rowley getting more or less common?: More common. 14,760 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 15,588 in 2010, up 5.6%.
Is Rowley also a first name?: Yes. Rowley is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.