# Cox (surname)

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

An English surname from Middle English for either son of, or servant of someone named Cocke or Cook.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | not recorded |
| Type | occupational, named after the work an ancestor did |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 261,231 |
| US rank (2010) | 78 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 1,182 people |
| Change since 2000 | +2.9% (253,771 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

The surname has converged from several different origins; see Cox.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Cox 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) | 83% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 12% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.3% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.5% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.7% |
| Two or more races | 1.8% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Cox in the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, The Bahamas and Kingdom of the Netherlands.

## People named Cox

- Courteney Cox, American actress and producer (born 1964)
- Laverne Cox, American actress and LGBT advocate (born 1972)
- Charlie Cox, British actor (born 1982)
- Ronny Cox, American actor and musician
- Alan Cox, British computer programmer
- Nikki Cox, American actress
- Spencer Cox, 18th Governor of Utah since 2021
- James Middleton Cox, American politician and Governor of Ohio (1870–1957)
- Simon Cox, association football player (born 1987)
- Tony Cox, American actor
- Billy Cox, American musician
- Kenyon Cox, American artist (1856-1919)

and 62 more on Wikidata.

## Similar surnames

Cook, Casey, Chase, Case, Cooke, Cash, Couch, Ceja, Cheek, Causey, Cass, Cooksey.

## 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.