Coben
Son of a chaplain, a variant of the Welsh name "Cowan".
Name Census estimates that about 131 living Americans carry the first name Coben. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Coben today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Coben births was 2006 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Coben. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Coben with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
131
~ 1 in 2,616,445 Americans
Peak year
2006
14 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,060
Tracked since 2000
Popularity
Coben: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Coben from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 80 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Coben by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Coben during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Coben
The name Coben is of Hebrew origin, derived from the word "kohen," which means "priest" in Hebrew. This name has its roots in ancient Jewish culture and tradition, dating back to biblical times.
The name Coben was likely first used among Jewish communities in the Middle East and the Mediterranean region during antiquity. It was commonly given to boys born into the priestly class, known as the Kohanim, who were responsible for performing religious rituals and ceremonies in the Temple of Jerusalem.
In the Hebrew Bible, the book of Exodus mentions the appointment of Aaron and his sons as the first Kohanim, tasked with overseeing the priesthood and carrying out sacred duties. This event marks the earliest known reference to the name and its association with the priestly lineage.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Coben was Coben ben Yitzhak, a renowned Jewish scholar and philosopher who lived in Spain during the 12th century. He is known for his works on Jewish law and ethics, which had a significant influence on medieval Jewish thought.
Another notable figure bearing the name Coben was Coben ben Sheshet, a 14th-century Spanish rabbi and influential Talmudic scholar. He is widely recognized for his legal writings and his contributions to the development of Jewish law during the Golden Age of Jewish culture in Spain.
In the 16th century, Coben ben Levi, a Jewish mystic and Kabbalist from Safed, Israel, gained prominence for his teachings on the Kabbalah and his work on the Zohar, a foundational text of Jewish mysticism.
During the 17th century, Coben ben Meir Rothenburg, a German rabbi and scholar, made significant contributions to the study of Jewish law and tradition. His writings and rulings had a lasting impact on the Jewish communities of Central and Eastern Europe.
In more recent times, Coben Yaacov Culi, a 20th-century Yemenite-Israeli rabbi and scholar, was highly regarded for his expertise in Jewish law and his efforts to preserve the traditions and customs of Yemenite Jewry after their migration to Israel.
People
Coben + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Coben as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Coben: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Coben?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 131 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Coben going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 2,616,445 US residents.
Is Coben a common name?
We classify Coben as "Very Rare". It ranks above 68.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 132 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Coben most popular?
The single biggest year for Coben was 2006, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Coben is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Coben in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Coben a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Coben in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Coben still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Coben in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Coben can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How common is the name Coben?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Coben at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.