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

Cope, 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 Cope surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Cope in America

Cope is the 1964th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Cope surname appeared 18,410 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 6 people would have the surname Cope.

We can also compare 2010 data for Cope 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 Cope

The surname Cope is an English name that originated in the 12th century. It is derived from the Old English word 'copp', meaning a hill or a summit. The name is believed to have first emerged in areas around the counties of Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, and Yorkshire, where many small villages and hamlets were named after these landscape features.

One of the earliest records of the name Cope can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it is listed as 'Copes' and 'Coppe'. This suggests that the name had already been in use for some time before the Norman Conquest.

During the Middle Ages, the name Cope was commonly associated with people who lived near or worked on hilltops or elevated areas. In the 13th century, the name appears in various forms such as 'atte Cope', 'de la Cope', and 'de Copes', indicating that it was often used as a descriptive name for someone's place of residence or occupation.

One of the earliest known individuals with the surname Cope was William Cope, a prominent merchant and landowner who lived in Banbury, Oxfordshire, in the late 14th century. Another notable figure was Sir Walter Cope (c. 1460-1554), a courtier and military commander who served under King Henry VIII and was granted lands in Gloucestershire.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, the Cope family became well-established in various parts of England, particularly in the counties of Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, and Warwickshire. Sir Anthony Cope (1548-1614) was a Member of Parliament and a significant landowner in Oxfordshire, while Sir John Cope (1672-1749) was a renowned military commander who fought in the War of the Spanish Succession and the Jacobite Rising.

Other notable individuals with the surname Cope include Edward Drinker Cope (1840-1897), an American paleontologist and anatomist who made significant contributions to the study of dinosaurs and evolutionary theory, and Sir Vincent Cope (1889-1966), a British politician and diplomat who served as the Governor of Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) from 1938 to 1944.

The Cope surname has also been associated with various place names throughout England, such as Cope Green in Gloucestershire, Cope Hill in Nottinghamshire, and Cope's Ash in Worcestershire, further highlighting its connection to the Old English word 'copp' and its geographical origins.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Cope

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

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 Cope 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 Cope 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 Cope was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

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

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