How common is the surname Cotton?

33,374 people in the United States had the surname Cotton in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 9,251 Americans. It ranked 1,044th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Cotton?

Tom Cotton, American politician and army officer (born 1977), followed by James Cotton.

Where is the surname Cotton most common?

Wikidata records people named Cotton in the United States, Australia and Wales and 1 other country.

Is the surname Cotton getting more or less common?

More common. 31,759 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 33,374 in 2010, up 5.1%.

The surname Cotton

An English place surname, carried by 33,374 people in the United States.

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). Cotton is more common than 99.4% of them.

Origin

English origin

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

Cotton is a place surname: taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.

One of 1,446 English surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 33,374 people named Cotton in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 9,251 Americans. That is up 5.1% since 2000, when the Census counted 31,759.

#1,044

rank among US surnames

33,374

people in 2010

per 100,000 Americans

+5.1%

change since 2000 (was #1,006)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#1,035	Rosa	33,521	9,211
#1,036	Riddle	33,507	9,214
#1,037	Key	33,501	9,216
#1,038	Cho	33,490	9,219
#1,039	Kaiser	33,480	9,222
#1,040	Holder	33,465	9,226
#1,041	Bird	33,457	9,228

Who is named Cotton

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

51% of people named Cotton identified as white (not Hispanic), 42% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.8% as two or more races.

White (not Hispanic) 51%
Black (not Hispanic) 42%
Two or more races 2.8%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.4%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.9%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.3%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Cottons

13 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

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, born 2002
Bryce Cotton
American basketball player (born 1992)
Maxwell Perry Cotton
American actor, born 2000
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, born 1975
Henry Cotton
American psychiatrist (1876–1933)
Olive Cotton
Australian photographer (1911–2003)

Notable Cottons come mostly from the United States (9), Australia (2) and Wales (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Cotton

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

Other English surnames

All 1,446 English surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Cotton come from?: From Old English cottūn (“cottage farmstead”), from cot (“cottage”) + tūn (“homestead”).
How common is the surname Cotton?: 33,374 people in the United States had the surname Cotton in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 9,251 Americans. It ranked 1,044th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Cotton?: In the 2010 Census, 51% of people named Cotton identified as white (not Hispanic), and 42% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Cotton?: Tom Cotton, American politician and army officer (born 1977), followed by James Cotton.
Where is the surname Cotton most common?: Wikidata records people named Cotton in the United States, Australia and Wales and 1 other country.
What type of surname is Cotton?: Cotton is a place surname, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.
Is the surname Cotton getting more or less common?: More common. 31,759 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 33,374 in 2010, up 5.1%.