Find out how popular the last name Cohn is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Cohn.

Cohn, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Cohn surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Cohn in America

Cohn is the 3758th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Cohn surname appeared 9,426 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 3 people would have the surname Cohn.

We can also compare 2010 data for Cohn to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Cohn

The surname Cohn is a variant of the Hebrew name Cohen, which originated from the Biblical Hebrew word "Kohen" meaning "priest." The name traces its roots back to ancient Israel, where the Kohanim were members of the priestly class, descended from Aaron, the brother of Moses.

The name Cohn is believed to have originated in the Rhineland region of Germany during the Middle Ages, where many Jewish communities were established. It was a common practice for Jews to adopt surnames based on their professions, places of origin, or other distinguishing characteristics. In this case, the surname Cohn was likely adopted by families of the priestly lineage.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname Cohn can be found in the 13th-century Memorbuch, a record of deceased members of the Jewish community in Nuremberg, Germany. This document mentions individuals with the name Cohn, indicating that the surname was already in use by that time.

Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the surname Cohn. One of the earliest was Rabbi Yaakov ben Moshe Hakohen Cohn (1610-1668), a prominent Talmudic scholar and author from Krakow, Poland. Another notable figure was Ferdinand Cohn (1828-1898), a German botanist and microbiologist who made significant contributions to the study of bacteria and algae.

In the realm of literature, Harry Cohn (1891-1958) was an American film producer and the co-founder of Columbia Pictures. Meanwhile, Alfred Cohn (1892-1953) was a German-American novelist and screenwriter best known for his collaboration with Billy Wilder on the script for the classic film "Double Indemnity."

Other notable individuals with the surname Cohn include Haym Salomon Cohn (1740-1785), a Polish-born Jewish immigrant to America who played a crucial role in financing the American Revolutionary War, and Roy Cohn (1927-1986), an American attorney who gained notoriety for his work as a prosecutor during the McCarthy era and his later involvement in various high-profile legal cases.

While the surname Cohn originated in Germany, it has since spread to various parts of the world through Jewish migration and diaspora communities. Today, it is found in many countries, including the United States, Israel, and various European nations.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Cohn

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Cohn.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Cohn was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Cohn has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Cohn was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Cohn, please contact us.

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