# Cotten (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/cotten/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | not recorded |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 5,719 |
| US rank (2010) | 6,015 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 53,986 people |
| Change since 2000 | +7.9% (5,300 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈkɑt.(ə)n/, 2 syllables |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Who carries it

Share of people named Cotten in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 76% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 18% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.7% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.4% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.8% |
| Two or more races | 2.0% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Cotten in the United States and Austria.

## People named Cotten

- Joseph Cotten, American actor (1905–1994)
- Elizabeth Cotten, American blues and folk musician, singer and songwriter (1893-1987)
- Ann Cotten, Austrian poet

## Similar surnames

Cotton, Cowden, Cottone, Coatney, Cottam, Cheatham, Cadena, Cedeno, Caton, Chatham, Cauthen, Catania.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.