Gower
A surname that is usually locational, linked to a place-name form such as Gore or Goher, though some older writers also connected it with an Anglo-Saxon Yorkshire family line.
The #5,317 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 47,108 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Gower is generally treated in older surname dictionaries as a locational name. One common explanation connects it with an older place-name form such as Gore or Goher, rather than with a personal nickname. Some 19th-century writers also tried to link it to an ancient Yorkshire family tradition, but that genealogy is not certain and is best treated cautiously.
History
Lower and later onomastic writers discuss Gower as an old surname in England, and Bardsley also treats it as a local name. The name appears in medieval records, including forms written as de Gower/Goher, which supports a place-based origin. It is also famous through the poet John Gower, one of the major English writers of the late 14th century.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
John Gower (c. 1330–1408), author of Confessio Amantis, is one of the best-known medieval bearers of the surname.
From the historical record
“Gower. GOWER. "All our Antiquaries agree that this family is one of the oldest in the county of York, and of Anglo-Saxon origin, though they differ as to its patriarch, whom some will have to be Sir Alan Gower, said to be sheriff of that county at the time of the Norman Conquest, A.D. lOGG, and lord of Stittcnham…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom