# Cotter (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/cotter/  
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) | 11,904 |
| US rank (2010) | 3,010 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 25,936 people |
| Change since 2000 | -0.6% (11,977 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | Cottier |

## Who carries it

Share of people named Cotter 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) | 95% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 0.7% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.1% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.8% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.5% |
| Two or more races | 1.4% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Cotter in the United States and Australia.

## People named Cotter

- Paul Cotter, American ice hockey player
- Tibby Cotter, Australian cricketer (1884-1917)
- Eliza Taylor, Australian actress
- Audrey Meadows, American actress (1922–1996)

## Similar surnames

Couture, Cutter, Cater, Coder, Chowdhury, Chaudhry, Choudhury, Cuadra, Chaudhary, Choudhry, Choudhary, Chaudhari.

## 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.