Coburn
Usually a shortened or Anglicized form of Cockburn, a Scottish surname linked to a place name near Paisley or to "cold burn".
The #2,625 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 22,469 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Coburn is generally explained as a reduced pronunciation or spelling of Cockburn. In older sources, Cockburn is treated as a Scottish place-based name, probably from a locality in the Renfrew/Paisley area. Some later writers also connect the second element to Scots burn, meaning a stream, and interpret the name as referring to a "cold burn" or similar landscape feature, though that explanation is less secure.
History
The name appears in records as a variant pronunciation and spelling of Cockburn, especially in Scotland and in Anglicized forms elsewhere. By the 19th century, writers were already noting Coburn as a fashionable or simplified pronunciation. It spread into North America and remains much less common than Cockburn or Cochrane-related forms.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One 19th-century source explicitly describes Coburn as a "fashionable" pronunciation of Cockburn, showing how pronunciation could reshape a surname over time.
From the historical record
“Kent. COBURN, A ' fashionable' pronuncia- tion of Cockburn. COCHRANE. COCHRAN. The family were resident in co. Renfrew for many cen- turies. See Peerage, Earl of Dundouald. The name is probably local, from a place in the district of Paisley. COCK. The bird — corresj^onding to the Lat. Gallus, the Fr. Le Coq…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom