Given name & surname

Dowd

“a serious-minded man”

Dowd is used as a given name and a surname. One American interpretation is “a serious-minded man.”

Meaning & origin

What it means

One American interpretation is “a serious-minded man.”

Where it comes from

An origin associated with this spelling is American.

How it developed

From Irish Ó Dubhda (“descendant of Dubhda”).

Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The story

Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1926. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.

From dated birth records

Dowd through the years

Babies since 1880
6
6 boys · 0 girls
Most popular year
1926
6 babies
2025
0
Outside the ranked list
2021–25 vs 2016–20
—
Too few births to compare
024619401960198020002025Highest share 19260.0
Dowd in U.S. Social Security birth records, 1926–2025, per million boys born. Years with fewer than five births for a sex are not published and appear as zero. Use the arrow keys to step through years.

By the numbers

The most recent published U.S. birth count for boys is 6 in 1926. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 13,092 as a surname in 2020.

From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.

Dowd’s family of names

Dowd has a related form in Dowde. Dowd has a related form in Dowdea. Dowd has a related form in Dowdee.

Walk Dowd’s family in the name graph

DowdDowdyDawdyDowdeaDowdeeDowdeyDowdieDowdiDowedDowde

The ring: nicknames and forms.

Hover or tab through the constellation to see how each name is related. Bigger dots are names more people in the U.S. share.

Nicknames & forms 9

Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.

Show 1 moreShow fewer

Similar names

If you love Dowd, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.

American

Doctor

“a physician; one who heals others”

0Not recently recorded

>99% boys

American

Dude

“a cowboy”

0Not recently recorded

>99% boys

English

Hodge

“one who is confident”

0Not recently recorded

>99% boys

American

Garn

“one who is prepared”

0Not recently recorded

>99% boys

American

Lindo

“one who is sturdy”

0Not recently recorded

>99% boys

American

Holsey

“an easygoing woman”

0Not recently recorded

>99% boys

American · Biblical

Tip

“one of twins” · “twin”

0Not recently recorded

>99% boys

American

Eural

“from the mountains”

0Not recently recorded

>99% boys

Sibling ideas

Names that share Dowd’s feel without repeating its first letter or rhyming with it.

A brother for Dowd

A sister for Dowd