Skip to content

The surname Sowell

A surname, carried by 9,612 people in the United States.

Pronounced /ˈsoʊ.wəl/ 2 syllables Soundex S400

Sowell: #3,696 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#1,000Archer#10,001Dubon Sowell #3,696, 9,612 people Sowell: #3,696 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#100Jimenez Sowell #3,696, 9,612 people
Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Sowell is more common than 97.7% of them.

Origin

A surname.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 9,612 people named Sowell in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 32,121 Americans. That is up 5.7% since 2000, when the Census counted 9,093.

#3,696
rank among US surnames
9,612
people in 2010
3.3
per 100,000 Americans
+5.7%
change since 2000 (was #3,590)
RankSurnamePeople1 in
#3,691Brandenburg9,62432,081
#3,693Bernier9,61432,114
#3,695Tyree9,61332,118
#3,696Sowell9,61232,121

Who is named Sowell

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

62% of people named Sowell identified as white (not Hispanic), 32% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.3% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

  • White (not Hispanic) 62%
  • Black (not Hispanic) 32%
  • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.3%
  • Two or more races 2.3%
  • American Indian and Alaska Native 0.3%
  • Asian and Pacific Islander 0.3%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Sowells

2 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

  • Thomas Sowell
    American economist, social theorist, political philosopher and author, born 1930
  • Anthony Sowell
    American serial killer and dead row inmate (1959–2021)

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Sowell

Sowell has the Soundex code S400, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code S400.

Questions

How common is the surname Sowell?
9,612 people in the United States had the surname Sowell in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 32,121 Americans. It ranked 3,696th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Sowell?
In the 2010 Census, 62% of people named Sowell identified as white (not Hispanic), and 32% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Sowell?
Thomas Sowell, American economist, social theorist, political philosopher and author, followed by Anthony Sowell.
Where is the surname Sowell most common?
Wikidata records people named Sowell in the United States.
How do you pronounce Sowell?
Sowell is /ˈsoʊ.wəl/, 2 syllables.
Is the surname Sowell getting more or less common?
More common. 9,093 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 9,612 in 2010, up 5.7%.