Explore the Family Name Stow

The meaning of Stow

English: variant of Stowe.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Stow saw a slight decrease in popularity between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, it was ranked 18,057th most common, but by 2010 it had slipped to 18,819th—a 4.22% drop. Nevertheless, the actual count of people with the Stow surname increased slightly from 1,424 in 2000 to 1,455 in 2010, representing a 2.18% increase. However, when viewed as a proportion of the population per 100,000 people, the prevalence of the surname decreased by 7.55%, going from 0.53 in 2000 to 0.49 in 2010.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#18,057	#18,819	-4.22%
Count	1,424	1,455	2.18%
Proportion per 100k	0.53	0.49	-7.55%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Stow

The census data also provides insight into the ethnic identity associated with the surname Stow. The vast majority of individuals with this surname identified as White both in 2000 (95.08%) and 2010 (94.91%), with a minimal change of -0.18%. The second highest ethnic identity, albeit significantly smaller, was Hispanic, which saw an increase from 1.47% in 2000 to 1.79% in 2010, a rise of 21.77%. The representation of Blacks in this surname group also increased substantially from 0.63% to 1.17%, marking an impressive 85.71% growth. The proportion of those identifying as either Asian/Pacific Islander or American Indian and Alaskan Native dropped to zero by 2010, while the percentage of those identifying with two or more races stayed relatively stable, showing only a minor decline of -1.50%. All these figures are based on the Decennial U.S. Census.

	2000	2010	Change
White	95.08%	94.91%	-0.18%
Hispanic	1.47%	1.79%	21.77%
Two or More Races	1.33%	1.31%	-1.5%
Black	0.63%	1.17%	85.71%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.77%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0.7%	0%	0%