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

Coyne, 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 Coyne surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Coyne in America

Coyne is the 3130th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Coyne surname appeared 11,525 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 4 people would have the surname Coyne.

We can also compare 2010 data for Coyne 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 Coyne

The surname Coyne is of Irish origin, derived from the Gaelic surname Ó Cuinn, which means "descendant of Conn." The name Conn was a common personal name in ancient Ireland, derived from the old Irish word "conn," meaning "reason" or "wisdom."

Coyne is an anglicized version of the original Gaelic name, which was commonly found in the counties of Galway, Mayo, and Sligo in the west of Ireland. The earliest recorded examples of the name date back to the 13th century in Irish annals and manuscripts.

One of the earliest recorded references to the name can be found in the Annals of Loch Cé, a medieval Irish chronicle, where it mentions a "Diarmaid Ó Cuinn" in the year 1244. The name also appears in the Annals of the Four Masters, a famous chronicle of medieval Irish history, which mentions several individuals with the name Ó Cuinn from the 13th to the 16th centuries.

In the 16th century, during the Tudor conquest of Ireland, many Irish families with Gaelic surnames adopted anglicized versions of their names. This is when the spelling "Coyne" became more prevalent, as it was an anglicized version of the original Gaelic name Ó Cuinn.

Notable individuals with the surname Coyne throughout history include:

1. John Coyne (1763-1810), an Irish-American soldier who served in the American Revolutionary War and later became a prominent landowner in Pennsylvania.

2. Michael Coyne (1874-1945), an Irish-born prelate who served as the Bishop of Elphin from 1919 to 1945.

3. Kevin Coyne (1944-2004), an English singer-songwriter and musician, known for his unique blend of folk, rock, and avant-garde styles.

4. Robert Coyne (1924-1997), an American author and journalist who wrote several books on political and business topics, including "The Improbable Bestseller."

5. John Coyne (1937-2021), an American novelist and screenwriter, best known for his novel "The Legacy" and his work on the TV series "The Waltons."

The surname Coyne has been prevalent in Ireland for centuries and has spread to various parts of the world through Irish immigration. While the spelling may have been anglicized over time, the name retains its roots in the ancient Gaelic tradition of Ireland.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Coyne

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

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

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

Reference this page

We spend a lot of resources downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!