Explore the Family Name Cockburn

The meaning of Cockburn

Scottish (Midlothian) and northern English: habitational name from a place in Berwickshire named Cockburn, from Old English cocc ‘cock, rooster’ (or the related byname Cocca) + burna ‘stream’ (see Bourne). This surname is traditionally pronounced Coburn.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Cockburn in the United States?

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Cockburn had a slight decrease in popularity between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, Cockburn ranked 26,215 in terms of frequency among all U.S. surnames, but by 2010, it dropped to a rank of 28,525. This represents a decline of approximately 8.81%. The actual count of people with this surname also decreased from 877 in 2000 to 836 in 2010, marking a drop of around 4.68%.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#26,215	#28,525	-8.81%
Count	877	836	-4.68%
Proportion per 100k	0.33	0.28	-15.15%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Cockburn

As for the ethnicity associated with the surname Cockburn, the Decennial U.S. Census data reveals some changes between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, the majority of individuals with this surname identified as White (83.92%), followed by Black (10.60%), Hispanic (3.31%), and Two or more races (1.14%). By 2010, although the majority still identified as White, their proportion had decreased to 78.95%. Meanwhile, the percentage of those identifying as Black increased to 13.40%, and Hispanics to 4.19%. Notably, there was a significant increase in the percentage of those identifying with Two or more races, up to 2.15% from 1.14% in 2000. No individuals with the Cockburn surname identified as Asian/Pacific Islander or American Indian and Alaskan Native in either census year.

	2000	2010	Change
White	83.92%	78.95%	-5.92%
Black	10.6%	13.4%	26.42%
Hispanic	3.31%	4.19%	26.59%
Two or More Races	1.14%	2.15%	88.6%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%