# Cowell

> English word · Proper noun · frequency rank #27,102

## Definitions
1. A surname.
2. A town in Franklin Harbour district, Eyre Peninsula, South Australia, named after John Clayton Cowell.
3. A former unincorporated community annexed to Concord, Contra Costa County, California, United States, named after Joshua Cowell.

## Etymology
* As an Irish and Manx surname, shortened from McCawell, Anglicized from Mac Cathmhaoil (“son of Cathmhaol”), meaning "battle chief," see Caulfield.
* Also as an Irish surname, shortened from Mac (Giolla) Comhghaill (“son of (the devotee of) Saint Comhghal”), see Cool.
* Also as an Irish surname, shortened from McCool.
* As an English surname, from several places named Cowhill, analyzable as cow + hill, or from Cowleigh in Worcestershire, equivalent to cow + Leigh.
* Also as an English surname, variant of Cole.
* As a Polish, Carpathian Rusyn and Jewish surname, Americanized from Kowal.

## Easily confused with
- **cowl** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cowell-vs-cowl)
- **cower** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cowell-vs-cower)
- **Cromwell** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cowell-vs-cromwell)
- **cell** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cell-vs-cowell)
- **coll** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coll-vs-cowell)
- **Cornell** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cornell-vs-cowell)
- **Connell** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/connell-vs-cowell)
- **Cornwell** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cornwell-vs-cowell)

## Common misspellings (7)
`ccowell`, `coewll`, `cowel`, `cowlel`, `cowwell`, `cwoell`, `ocwell`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/cowell