Koon
A surname that is often a shortened or altered form of names like Kuhn or Kuntz, though in some cases it may be unrelated or local in origin.
The #6,083 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 54,762 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The historical material most strongly suggests that Koon is a reduced or simplified spelling related to German and Dutch surnames such as Kuhn, Kuntz, or similar short forms built from personal names. In older surname studies, it is often treated as a variant spelling rather than a fully independent formation. Because the evidence is thin and mixed, the exact root should be treated as uncertain.
History
The name appears in North American records in the 19th century, and the cited surname dictionaries mainly cross-reference it to other continental European forms. That pattern fits a surname that arrived through immigration and then shifted in spelling over time. The form is uncommon, but it survives in the United States as a small surname cluster.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One 1902 surname index explicitly cross-references Koon with Kuhn, showing how closely some old reference works connected the two forms.
From the historical record
“1860. We have already enumerated Hogg and its various derivatives. Thomas Cow became a freeman of Ipswich, 1681. Mr. Koon lives at North Adams ; Mr. Mole, at the same place, and also at Williams- town ; Mr. CouLT, at Manchester, N.H. Our Mr. BoREMAN, perhaps, derived his name from his collo- quial powers. We have…”
— Suffolk Surnames (3rd ed.)