Cowan Family History
Cowan Name Meaning
Scottish and Manx: shortened form of McOwen and McKeown . See also McEwen . Sottish and Manx: from a shortened form of Irish Ó Comhdhain and Mac Comhdhain ‘descendant or son of Comhdan’ or Gaelic Mac Comhghain ‘son of Comhghan (‘the twin’). Pronounced to rhyme with Owen the name sometimes appears as Coan and Cohen in Down and has been used interchangeably with Irish Coyne in Connacht and McIlhone in Tyrone. In the Isle of Man the name is pronounced /'kauən/ (with Cow- as in English cow). Scottish and Manx: sometimes a variant of Colquhoun pronounced Cohoon in Scotland and Cahoon in Ulster.
Source: Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022