Sowden Family History

English: habitational name from South Dean in Stanbury (Yorkshire) or Southdean (Roxburghshire), both from Old English sūth ‘south southern’ + denu ‘valley’. English: habitational name from one or more farmsteads in Devon named with Middle English bi southe doun ‘(place) to the south of the hill’, including Sowden in Barnstaple, Lympstone, and Hartland, and Southdown in Brixham, Malborough, Burlescombe, and Sandford.

English: habitational name from Southdown (Barn) in Hawling (Gloucestershire), which may derive from Old English sūth ‘south southern’ + dūn ‘hill’. English (of Norman origin): nickname from Middle English Old French soldan, souda(i)n, a borrowing of Arabic sulṭān ‘ruler’, specifically the ruler of the Ottoman Empire.

It may have named someone who behaved in an outlandish and autocratic manner or someone who had played the part of a sultan in a pageant.