Explore the Family Name Dowding

The meaning of Dowding

English: variant of Dodding, from the Middle English personal name Dodding or Dudding, an Old English patronymic meaning ‘son of Dodda or Dudda’. Compare Dodd 1 and see Dowden.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the surname Dowding saw a minor decrease in popularity between 2000 and 2010. In the year 2000, it was ranked 28,028th most popular, whereas by 2010 it had slipped slightly to 28,552nd. Despite this drop in ranking, the actual count of individuals with the Dowding surname increased from 805 in 2000 to 835 in 2010, indicating a modest growth of 3.73%. However, when considering the proportion per 100,000 people, there was a decline from 0.3 to 0.28, a change of -6.67%.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#28,028	#28,552	-1.87%
Count	805	835	3.73%
Proportion per 100k	0.3	0.28	-6.67%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Dowding

Turning to the ethnic identity associated with the Dowding surname, as per the Decennial U.S. Census data, the majority identified as White in both 2000 and 2010, though there was a slight decrease from 94.53% to 92.22%. The next largest groups were those identifying as Black and those claiming two or more races; the latter group saw a substantial increase from 1.24% to 2.75%. Meanwhile, the proportion of those identifying as Hispanic also grew from 0.99% to 2.16%, an impressive leap of 118.18%. On the other hand, no individuals with the Dowding surname identified as Asian/Pacific Islander or American Indian and Alaskan Native in either 2000 or 2010.

	2000	2010	Change
White	94.53%	92.22%	-2.44%
Two or More Races	1.24%	2.75%	121.77%
Black	2.36%	2.51%	6.36%
Hispanic	0.99%	2.16%	118.18%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.87%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%