Dowland Family History
Dowland Name Meaning
English (Dorset): habitational name from Dowland in Devon possibly named from Old English dūfe ‘dove’ + land ‘open country’. The name is pronounced with the first element rhyming with owl but it may have been confused with and absorbed by Dolling also a Devon name (see Dollins ). The name may also be a post-medieval variant of Dolling (see Dollins ) with shortening of -ing to /ən/ as in Dowlen to which excrescent -d was added at will. Irish: probably a variant of Dowlin or Dolan .
Source: Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022