Skip to content

The surname Cox

An occupational surname, the 78th most common in the United States.

1 syllable Soundex C200

Cox: #78 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#1,000Archer#10,001Dubon Cox #78, 261,231 people Cox: #78 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#1,000Archer Cox #78, 261,231 people
Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Cox is more common than 99.9% of them.

Origin

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

Cox is an occupational surname: named after the work an ancestor did.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 261,231 people named Cox in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 1,182 Americans. That is up 2.9% since 2000, when the Census counted 253,771.

#78
rank among US surnames
261,231
people in 2010
89
per 100,000 Americans
+2.9%
change since 2000 (was #72)
RankSurnamePeople1 in
#69Morgan286,2801,078
#70Cooper280,7911,100
#71Peterson278,2971,109
#72Bailey277,8451,111
#73Reed277,0301,114
#74Kelly267,3941,155
#75Howard264,8261,166

Who is named Cox

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

83% of people named Cox identified as white (not Hispanic), 12% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.3% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

  • White (not Hispanic) 83%
  • Black (not Hispanic) 12%
  • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.3%
  • Two or more races 1.8%
  • American Indian and Alaska Native 0.7%
  • Asian and Pacific Islander 0.5%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Coxs

74 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

  • 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, born 1938
  • Alan Cox
    British computer programmer, born 1968
  • Nikki Cox
    American actress, born 1978
  • 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, born 1958
  • Billy Cox
    American musician, born 1941
  • Kenyon Cox
    American artist (1856-1919)

Notable Coxs come mostly from the United States (56), Australia (8) and the United Kingdom (7).

Questions

Where does the surname Cox come from?
The surname has converged from several different origins; see Cox.
How common is the surname Cox?
261,231 people in the United States had the surname Cox in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 1,182 Americans. It ranked 78th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Cox?
In the 2010 Census, 83% of people named Cox identified as white (not Hispanic), and 12% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Cox?
Courteney Cox, American actress and producer (born 1964), followed by Laverne Cox.
Where is the surname Cox most common?
Wikidata records people named Cox in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom and 3 other countries.
What type of surname is Cox?
Cox is an occupational surname, named after the work an ancestor did.
Is the surname Cox getting more or less common?
More common. 253,771 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 261,231 in 2010, up 2.9%.