Explore the Family Name Cotner

The meaning of Cotner

Probably an Americanized form of German Kötner or Köthner, status names for a cotter, derived from Middle High German, Middle Low German kote ‘shelter, cottage’, specifically of a kind that was rented on a daily basis and had little or no land with it. See Koth 1.

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

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

According to the Decennial U.S. Census, the popularity of the surname Cotner experienced a slight dip between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, Cotner was ranked 11,188 in terms of surname prevalence but fell to the 11,709 position by 2010, marking a 4.66% drop. Despite this decrease in rank, the actual count of individuals with the Cotner surname increased from 2,600 to 2,677 within the same period, showing a 2.96% growth. The proportion per 100,000 people also slightly declined by 5.21% from 0.96 to 0.91.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#11,188	#11,709	-4.66%
Count	2,600	2,677	2.96%
Proportion per 100k	0.96	0.91	-5.21%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Cotner

When it comes to ethnic identity, the Decennial U.S. Census data indicates diverse changes for the surname Cotner between 2000 and 2010. The percentage of Asian/Pacific Islanders with the surname grew by 47.83%, and those identifying as two or more races more than doubled with an increase of 106.25%. Meanwhile, the proportion of Hispanic individuals increased by 83.04%, and that of American Indians and Alaskan Natives rose by 69.32%. The Black population with the Cotner surname saw a smaller rise of 18.09%. However, the proportion of White individuals with this surname decreased by 3.43% over these ten years.

	2000	2010	Change
White	93.77%	90.55%	-3.43%
Black	3.04%	3.59%	18.09%
Hispanic	1.12%	2.05%	83.04%
Two or More Races	0.96%	1.98%	106.25%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0.88%	1.49%	69.32%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.23%	0.34%	47.83%