Cotton
A name most often from English or Norman place-names called Cotton or Cottun, meaning a settlement or homestead by cottages.
The #1,044 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 9,251 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Cotton is usually a locational surname, taken from one of several places called Cotton in England or from Norman Cottun in Calvados. The place-name is commonly explained from Old English elements meaning “cot” or “cottage” plus “tūn,” a farmstead or settlement, so the literal sense is something like “the cottage farm” or “settlement of cottages.” In some cases the surname may also reflect Norman influence, since medieval records show both De Cottun and De Cotton forms.
History
Medieval records show the surname attached to people from different English places called Cotton, and older writers noted several possible local sources in counties such as Cheshire, Staffordshire, Shropshire, Cambridgeshire, Kent, and Suffolk. Lower specifically observed that some families, including the Combermere line, could be traced back very early in Cheshire and may have taken the name from a local Cotton before or soon after the Norman Conquest. The surname later became well known through figures such as Izaak Walton’s friend and associate Charles Cotton.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The historian Lower notes that both De Cottun and De Cotton appear in medieval records, showing how fluid spelling could be even in early surname forms.
From the historical record
“now called Cottles in Wiltshire. COTTON. Cottun, a place in the de- partment of Calvados in Normandy ; also several parishes in the counties of York, Chester, Staft'ord, &c. Both forms, viz. De Cottun, and De Cotton, are foimd in the H.R. The Eng. Gazetteer gives many places called Cotton. Lord Combermere's family…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United KingdomNotable people named Cotton
- Tom Cotton (b. 1977)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.