# Sowell (surname)

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

A surname.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | not recorded |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 9,612 |
| US rank (2010) | 3,696 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 32,121 people |
| Change since 2000 | +5.7% (9,093 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈsoʊ.wəl/, 2 syllables |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Who carries it

Share of people named Sowell 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) | 62% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 32% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.3% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.3% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.3% |
| Two or more races | 2.3% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Sowell in the United States.

## People named Sowell

- Thomas Sowell, American economist, social theorist, political philosopher and author
- Anthony Sowell, American serial killer and dead row inmate (1959–2021)

## Similar surnames

Sewell, Sewall, Shell, Sell, Solé, Selle, Solley, Sol, Showell, Shelley, Schell, Seeley.

## 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.