How common is the surname Cotten?

5,719 people in the United States had the surname Cotten in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 53,986 Americans. It ranked 6,015th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Cotten?

Joseph Cotten, American actor (1905–1994), followed by Elizabeth Cotten.

Where is the surname Cotten most common?

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

How do you pronounce Cotten?

Cotten is /ˈkɑt.(ə)n/, 2 syllables.

Is the surname Cotten getting more or less common?

More common. 5,300 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 5,719 in 2010, up 7.9%.

The surname Cotten

A surname, carried by 5,719 people in the United States.

Pronounced /ˈkɑt.(ə)n/ 2 syllables Soundex C350

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Cotten is more common than 96.3% of them.

Origin

A surname.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 5,719 people named Cotten in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 53,986 Americans. That is up 7.9% since 2000, when the Census counted 5,300.

#6,015

rank among US surnames

5,719

people in 2010

1.9

per 100,000 Americans

+7.9%

change since 2000 (was #5,982)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#6,010	Nicholls	5,722	53,958
#6,011	Walston	5,721	53,967
#6,012	Voorhees	5,720	53,976
#6,015	Scheer	5,719	53,986
#6,017	Nabors	5,718	53,995
#6,019	Bayne	5,716	54,014

Who is named Cotten

Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

76% of people named Cotten identified as white (not Hispanic), 18% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.7% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

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

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Cottens

3 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Joseph Cotten
American actor (1905–1994)
Elizabeth Cotten
American blues and folk musician, singer and songwriter (1893-1987)
Ann Cotten
Austrian poet, born 1982

Notable Cottens come mostly from the United States (2) and Austria (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Cotten

Cotten has the Soundex code C350, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code C350.

Questions

How common is the surname Cotten?: 5,719 people in the United States had the surname Cotten in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 53,986 Americans. It ranked 6,015th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Cotten?: In the 2010 Census, 76% of people named Cotten identified as white (not Hispanic), and 18% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Cotten?: Joseph Cotten, American actor (1905–1994), followed by Elizabeth Cotten.
Where is the surname Cotten most common?: Wikidata records people named Cotten in the United States and Austria.
How do you pronounce Cotten?: Cotten is /ˈkɑt.(ə)n/, 2 syllables.
Is the surname Cotten getting more or less common?: More common. 5,300 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 5,719 in 2010, up 7.9%.