Geneanet > Resources > Family Names > COLE

Origin and popularity of the name COLE

Origin

Cole : 1: English: usually from the Middle English and Old French personal name Col(e) Coll(e) Coul(e) a pet form of Nicol (see Nichol and Nicholas) a common personal name from the mid 13th century onward. English families with this name migrated to Scotland and to Ulster (especially Fermanagh).2: English: occasionally perhaps from a different (early) Middle English personal name Col of native English or Scandinavian origin. Old English Cola was originally a nickname from Old English col ‘coal’ in the sense ‘coal-black (of hair) swarthy’ and is the probable source of most of the examples in Domesday Book. In the northern and eastern counties of England settled by Vikings in the 10th and 11th centuries alternative sources are Old Norse Kolr and Koli (either from a nickname ‘the swarthy one’ or a short form of names in Kol-) and Old Norse Kollr (from a nickname perhaps ‘the bald one’).3: English: nickname for someone with swarthy skin or black hair from Middle English col coul(e) ‘charcoal coal’ (Old English col).4: Scottish and Irish: when not of English origin this is a shortened and altered form of McCool.5: French (northern mainly Seine-Maritime): from a short form of the personal name Nicolas (see Nicholas). Compare 1 above and Colle.6: Americanized form of German Kohl.7: Americanized form of Dutch Kool.8: In some cases particularly in New England Americanized form (translation into English; compare 3 above) of French Charbonneau.

Source : DAFN2 : Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, ©2022 by Patrick Hanks and Oxford University Press

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Last name frequency

Geographic distribution of the 223,989 individuals with the name COLE on Geneanet.

 

Most found places for the name COLE:

    This last name in the family trees

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    venicebeachblue
    (2,624 individuals)
    rmaryt
    (2,046 individuals)
    jkoobay
    (1,286 individuals)
    wbuchanan
    (1,173 individuals)

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