Coon
A surname with several possible roots, including a nickname meaning “bold” and a place-name or descriptive origin in Gaelic and Manx areas.
The #2,116 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 18,058 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname has more than one plausible source. In some English and Dutch traditions it may come from a nickname word meaning “bold” or “daring,” reflected in older forms like Dutch Koen and an English Coon noted in early surname dictionaries. In Irish and Manx contexts, similar spellings can also reflect Gaelic surnames such as Cooney/Coonahan or the Manx word coon, meaning “narrow,” used in local place-names.
History
The name appears in different regions and may have arisen independently in more than one family line. 19th-century and early-20th-century surname writers linked it both to English/Dutch nickname forms and to Irish/Manx names recorded in Gaelic spelling traditions. Because the spelling is short and elastic, many modern bearers may descend from different original surnames that converged on the form Coon.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
In Manx place-names, coon means “narrow,” as in Traie Coon, literally “Narrow Shore.”
From the historical record
“Aldham : Uiiriage Lie iFurnhy OOice), Loodon, 1, o ; Wot Riding Coon Dit., 0,4- Aldbouae, Aldhous, Aldis, AldottB, Alduo, Alldiss— Bapt. ' the SOD of Aldus ' ; not local, as”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances