Coons
A surname that may come from a bold nickname, an occupational name, or a place name, depending on the family line.
The #4,185 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 36,469 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Coons is not securely settled from the evidence here. One 19th-century source connects it with Dutch Koen, meaning “bold” or “daring,” and also suggests a Saxon Coon with a similar sense. The same source also proposes separate explanations from the Welsh word cwm and from the Scottish place-name Cupar, so the name may have different origins in different families.
History
The form appears in North America in several spellings, and it has also been treated as a variant or altered form of other surnames in later surname studies. Because the historical sources offer several competing explanations, it is safest to treat Coons as a surname with more than one possible origin rather than a single fixed derivation.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Some early surname writers tried to explain Coons through very different roots at once, which is a good reminder that older etymologies can be imaginative as well as informative.
From the historical record
“Welsh, Cwm. COONS. Dutch, Koen, bold, daring, audacious. Coon, Saxon, bold. COOPER. A name of occupation or trade. The name is also local, from Cupar, a town in Fifeshire, Scotland, which is derived from Cit-pyre, the inclosed fire, or Co, high, a beacon fire, or signal on the coast for ships. Pyre, a beacon fire…”
— An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names