Explore the Family Name Doswell

The meaning of Doswell

English (Hampshire and Surrey): variant of Dowdeswell, a habitational name from Dowdeswell in Gloucestershire, possibly named from an Old English personal name Dogod + Old English wella ‘spring, stream’.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Doswell in the United States?

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the popularity of the surname Doswell has seen a slight decline in recent years. In 2000, it ranked 39,756th in the United States, but by 2010, it had dropped to the 42,094th position, representing a change of -5.88%. The number of individuals carrying the Doswell family name also reduced slightly from 520 in 2000 to 516 in 2010, indicating a decrease of -0.77%. The proportion of people with the Doswell surname per 100,000 population also declined by -10.53% during this ten-year period.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#39,756	#42,094	-5.88%
Count	520	516	-0.77%
Proportion per 100k	0.19	0.17	-10.53%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Doswell

The Decennial U.S. Census data also gives an insight into the ethnicity of those carrying the Doswell surname. In 2000, approximately 50.19% of Doswells were identified as Black, and this percentage increased to 52.91% by 2010. The second most common ethnic identity among Doswells is White, which decreased from 44.42% in 2000 to 40.89% in 2010. The people identifying as having two or more races form a small portion of the Doswell population, which decreased from 4.62% in 2000 to 3.88% in 2010. Interestingly, the Hispanic identity emerged among the Doswells in 2010 at 1.74%, while there was no representation for Asian/Pacific Islander or American Indian and Alaskan Native categories during these years.

	2000	2010	Change
Black	50.19%	52.91%	5.42%
White	44.42%	40.89%	-7.95%
Two or More Races	4.62%	3.88%	-16.02%
Hispanic	0%	1.74%	0%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%