Gowan is an Anglicised Scottish Gaelic-language or Irish-language surname derived from the occupation of smith.^[1] Notable people with the surname include:

• Charles Gowan (1850–1938), American and Canadian pioneer and politician
• David Gowan, American politician from Arizona
• Douglas Gowan (1942/43-2018), British PCB pollution researcher
• Franklin B. Gowen (1836–1889), American attorney and president of Reading Railroad
• Geoffrey Gowan (1929–2013), Canadian sports broadcaster
• Hunter Gowan, Irish Protestant politician and militiaman
• J Gowan, defendant in R. v. Gowan, a 1998 Ontario Court of Justice case forbidding women being topless in public for commercial purposes
• James Robert Gowan (1815–1909), Canadian lawyer, judge, and senator
• James Gowan (1923–2015), Scottish architect
• John Curtis Gowan (1912–1986), American psychologist and academic
• Lawrence Gowan (born 1956), Canadian solo musician and member of Styx
• Lee Gowan (born 1961), Canadian novelist
• Ogle Robert Gowan (1803–1876), Canadian-Irish politician
• Peter Gowan (1946–2009), British academic
• Tay Gowan (born 1998), American football player
• William Henry Gowan (1884–1957), American sailor

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