Explore the Family Name Sower

The meaning of Sower

1. Americanized form of German or Jewish Sauer. 2. English (Staffordshire): occupational name from Middle English souer ‘sower, one who scatters seeds’ (Old English sāwere). History: The PA printer and publisher Christopher Sower was born 1693 in Laasphe on the Lahn river, Germany, in 1693. Seeking greater economic and religious freedom, he emigrated in 1724 to Germantown, PA, with his wife and son, and later settled in the Leacock township in Lancaster County, PA.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Sower experienced a decline in popularity between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, it ranked 46,000 in terms of prevalence, dropping to 50,106 by 2010, which represented a change of -8.93%. The count of people with this surname also dipped from 437 in 2000 to 418 in 2010, a decrease of -4.35%. The proportion per 100k people fell by -12.5%, from 0.16 in 2000 down to 0.14 in 2010.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#46,000	#50,106	-8.93%
Count	437	418	-4.35%
Proportion per 100k	0.16	0.14	-12.5%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Sower

Regarding ethnicity, data from the Decennial U.S. Census showed that the majority of individuals with the surname Sower identify as White, growing slightly from 96.80% in 2000 to 97.13% in 2010. There was a recorded percentage of 1.83% identifying as Black in 2000, but this had dropped to zero by 2010. No significant changes were observed for Asian/Pacific Islander, individuals of two or more races, Hispanic, and American Indian and Alaskan Native categories, as percentages remained at 0 throughout both census years.

	2000	2010	Change
White	96.8%	97.13%	0.34%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
Two or More Races	0%	0%	0%
Hispanic	0%	0%	0%
Black	1.83%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%