Explore the Family Name Gowder

The meaning of Gowder

Perhaps an Americanized form of German Gauder, a nickname for a braggart or wastrel, from an agent derivative of Middle High German giuden ‘to brag or squander’.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the surname Gowder has seen a slight dip in popularity over the past decade. In 2000, it was ranked 58,692 in popularity in the United States, but by 2010, it had dropped to 61,585, representing a decrease of about 4.93%. However, the number of individuals carrying this surname marginally increased from 323 in 2000 to 326 in 2010, a growth rate of 0.93%. Despite the increase in count, due to the overall population growth during the same period, the proportion per 100,000 people has decreased by approximately 8.33%.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#58,692	#61,585	-4.93%
Count	323	326	0.93%
Proportion per 100k	0.12	0.11	-8.33%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Gowder

On the topic of ethnicity, the Gowder surname has shown some interesting trends based on the data obtained from the Decennial U.S. Census. The census revealed an increase in persons of Asian/Pacific Islander and those identifying with two or more races holding the Gowder surname between 2000 and 2010, growing by 63.05% and 70.97% respectively. On the other hand, there's been a noticeable decline of about 9.97% in the white population with this surname. The Hispanic and American Indian and Alaskan Native groups showed no recorded change during this period. The black community using the Gowder surname saw a minor increase of 4.90%.

	2000	2010	Change
White	64.4%	57.98%	-9.97%
Black	26.32%	27.61%	4.9%
Asian/Pacific Islander	4.33%	7.06%	63.05%
Two or More Races	3.41%	5.83%	70.97%
Hispanic	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%