Gowans is a surname, a variant of McGowan, "son of the smith", with the Celtic patronymic prefix 'Mac' replaced by the English patronymic suffix -s.^[1] Notable people with the name include:

• Alan Gowans (1923–2001), art historian and academic
• Betty Gowans (born 1947), Canadian sprint canoer
• Brad Gowans (1903–1954), American jazz trombonist and reedist
• Chris Gowans (born 1977), Australian rules football player
• Fred R. Gowans (born 1936), American professor who specializes in the fur trade in the American West
• James Gowans (disambiguation), multiple people, including:
  • James Gowans (architect) (1821–1890), Scottish architect and quarry owner
  • James Gowans (rugby union) (1872–1936), Scottish rugby union player
  • James Learmonth Gowans (born 1924), English immunologist
  • James Gowans (Australian footballer) (born 1977), Australian footballer
• John Gowans (1934–2012), British General of The Salvation Army
• Peter Gowans (1944–2009), Scottish football winger
• Tony Gowans, New Zealand football player
• William Gowans (1803–1870), American bookseller

• Gowan (disambiguation)
• McGowan

Surname list

This page lists people with the surname Gowans.
If an internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that link by adding the person's given name(s) to the link.