# Cotton (surname)

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

A habitational surname from Old English.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | English |
| Type | place, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 33,374 |
| US rank (2010) | 1,044 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 9,251 people |
| Change since 2000 | +5.1% (31,759 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

From Old English cottūn (“cottage farmstead”), from cot (“cottage”) + tūn (“homestead”).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Cotton 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) | 51% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 42% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.4% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.3% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.9% |
| Two or more races | 2.8% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Cotton in the United States, Australia, Wales and Canada.

## People named Cotton

- Tom Cotton, American politician and army officer (born 1977)
- James Cotton, American blues singer-songwriter (1935–2017)
- F. Albert Cotton, American chemist (1930-2007)
- Mason Vale Cotton, American actor
- Bryce Cotton, American basketball player (born 1992)
- Maxwell Perry Cotton, American actor
- Stapleton Cotton, 1st Viscount Combermere, British Army officer, diplomat and politician (1773-1865)
- Lucy Cotton, American actress (1895-1948)
- Norris Cotton, American politician (1900-1989)
- Ben Cotton, actor
- Henry Cotton, American psychiatrist (1876–1933)
- Olive Cotton, Australian photographer (1911–2003)

and 1 more on Wikidata.

## Similar surnames

Cotten, Cottone, Cottam, Cheatham, Cadena, Cedeno, Caton, Chatham, Cowden, Cauthen, Catania, Cawthon.

## 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.