Dowding is an English surname of Old English origin. Notable people with this surname include the following: Hugh Dowding, 1st Baron Dowding, Royal Air Force commander during World War II Muriel Dowding, Baroness Dowding, wife of Hugh Dowding; English animal rights campaigner Geoffrey Dowding, typographer, author of Finer Points in the Spacing & Arrangement of Type Keith Dowding, professor of political science at the London School of Economics Leilani Dowding, British glamour model Keith Dowding (activist), Australian Presbyterian minister Peter Dowding, former premier of Western Australia References English-language surnames Surnames of Old English origin