Explore the Family Name Cowherd
The meaning of Cowherd
1. English (Lancashire and Westmorland): variant of Coward, perhaps a deliberate respelling by a bearer anxious to avoid association with the unrelated modern English word coward. 2. Possibly also a variant of Cowher, a surname of German origin.
Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.
How common is the last name Cowherd in the United States?
Based on data from the Decennial U.S. Census, the popularity of the surname Cowherd has seen a slight decrease in rank from 2000 to 2010, moving from the 19,079th position to the 19,590th. Despite this decrease in ranking, the count of individuals with the Cowherd surname increased by 4.4%, growing from 1,319 to 1,377. However, when considering the proportion per 100k people, the Cowherd surname experienced a 4.08% decrease over the same decade.
| 2000 | 2010 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | #19,079 | #19,590 | -2.68% |
| Count | 1,319 | 1,377 | 4.4% |
| Proportion per 100k | 0.49 | 0.47 | -4.08% |
Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Cowherd
In terms of ethnicity, the Decennial U.S. Census data shows that between 2000 and 2010, there were no Cowherds of Asian/Pacific Islander or American Indian and Alaskan Native ethnic identity. While the percentage of Cowherds identifying as White decreased slightly (-3.23%), and those identifying as Black remained almost stable (-0.10%), there was significant growth observed in the number of individuals with the Cowherd surname identifying with two or more races (56.10%) and Hispanic ethnicity (64.15%).
| 2000 | 2010 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| White | 58.53% | 56.64% | -3.23% |
| Black | 38.67% | 38.63% | -0.1% |
| Two or More Races | 2.05% | 3.2% | 56.1% |
| Hispanic | 0.53% | 0.87% | 64.15% |
| Asian/Pacific Islander | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| American Indian and Alaskan Native | 0% | 0% | 0% |