Owers Last Name Popularity, Meaning and Origin

In this article we'll look at the origin and meaning of the surname Owers and how popular it is in the United States. We'll also look at the race and ethnic origin of people in the United States who are named Owers.

Owers, like all of the names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Owers surname is from the 2010 census data.

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What is the Origin and Meaning of the Last Name Owers?

The surname of Owers derives from topographical and locational origins. Likely deriving from the Old English (pre 7th century) word ofer meaning “seashore or riverbank,” this would have been a descriptive name for someone who lived near such a topographical location. Ofer also later became a term that referred to slopes, banks and ridges.

Over time place names would start to use topographical terms such as ofer in their names. This would then become a source of the term as a surname. With both topographical and locational names, the term is added to a person's given name to help identify them against others who bear the same given name.

Early bearers of the Ofer name would likely have been referred to as “from the ofer” or “of the ofer.” Over the years the spelling would have morphed to create Owers as well as the related name Overs. Historically the name Overs was more popular but the Owers variant has developed over time.

Ebenezer Harold Fuller "Ginger" Owers (21 October 1888 – June 1951) was a well-known pre World War 1 English footballer. Born in the West Ham borough of London, Owers made his Southern Football League debut in 1906 for Leyton FC. He had a successful career by anyone's definition, playing for seven different clubs in England and Scotland. When the first world war broke out Owers entered service and a wound he incurred during the conflict ended his playing career.

Where Does Owers Rank in the Most Common U.S. Names?

According to the data, Owers is ranked #96,368 in terms of the most common surnames in America.

The Owers surname appeared 189 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0.06 would have the surname Owers.

We can also compare 2010 data for Owers to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

2010 2000 Change (%)
Rank 96368 80812 17.56%
Count 189 218 -14.25%
Proportion per 100k 0.06 0.08 -28.57%

Race and Ethnic Origin of People with the Last Name Owers

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Owers.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups: "White only", "Black only", "American Indian and Alaskan Native only", "Asian and Pacific Islander only", "Two or More Races", and "Hispanic".

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Owers was:

  • 89.42%, or 169 total occurrences, were "Non-Hispanic White Only".
  • 4.23%, or 8 total occurrences, were "Non-Hispanic Black Only".
  • (S), or less than 100 total occurrences, were "Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only".
  • (S), or less than 100 total occurrences, were "Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native".
  • (S), or less than 100 total occurrences, were "Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races".
  • (S), or less than 100 total occurrences, were "Hispanic Origin".

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Owers has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 89.42% 90.83% -1.56%
Black 4.23% 3.67% 14.18%
Asian and Pacific Islander (S) 2.29% 0.00%
American Indian and Alaskan Native (S) (S) 0.00%
Two or More Races (S) 2.29% 0.00%
Hispanic (S) (S) 0.00%

Data Source(s)

All of the data on this page is sourced from the Decennial Census survey, from the United States Census Bureau.

Link To or Reference This Page

We spent a lot of time downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!

  • "Owers Last Name Popularity, Meaning and Origin". NameCensus.com. Accessed on March 28, 2024. https://namecensus.com/last-names/owers-surname-popularity/.

  • "Owers Last Name Popularity, Meaning and Origin". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/owers-surname-popularity/. Accessed 28 March, 2024

  • Owers Last Name Popularity, Meaning and Origin. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from https://namecensus.com/last-names/owers-surname-popularity/.