Origin
Cote : 1: French (Côte Côté Coté): topographic name for someone who lived on a slope or riverbank less often on the coast from Old French coste (from Latin costa ‘rib side flank’ also used in a transferred topographic sense). There are several places in France named with this word and the surname may also be a habitational name from any of these. Compare Ducote.2: French (Côté): variant of Costé itself a variant of Coste and a cognate of 1 above as a habitational name perhaps from Le Costil the name of several places in Normandy. Compare Cody 3 Cota 5 Cotey and Coty 1.3: English: variant of Coate.
Billey : 1: Americanized form of Czech and Slovak Bílý Bilý Bíly (see Bily) or Billý (see Billy">Billy) Ukrainian and Rusyn Bily. Compare Billie 3.2: English: variant of Billy">Billy.3: French: habitational name from Billey in Côte d'Or of the same derivation as Billy">Billy.4: French: from a diminutive of Old French bille ‘block piece of tree trunk; stick’ (see Bille).5: Native American (Navajo): variant of Billie 1 which can be of Navajo origin meaning literally ‘his horse’ or an adoption of the English personal name Billy (see 6 below).6: Native American (e.g. Choctaw): variant of Billy">Billy 6 a use as a surname of the English personal name.
Boycott : chiefly from Boycott (Shrops) but occasionally from Boycott Farm (in Stowe Bucks). The place-name is probably from Old English *boi(a) ‘servant’ + cote ‘cottage(s)’.
Coate : 1: English (Somerset): habitational name from any of several places called from Old or Middle English cot(e) ‘cottage’ such as Coat (Somerset) Coate (Wiltshire) or Cote (Oxfordshire). The placenames literally meant ‘the cottage(s) or hut(s)’ hence the medieval surname forms de la Cote atte Cote. It is possible that some of the medieval surnames denoted someone who lived at a particular cottage known as such within a village or one who worked from a hut but a topographic origin is most likely for the modern hereditary surname. Medieval and post-medieval forms of the placename often vacillate between singular and plural versions. See Coates.2: Americanized form of German Koth or some other similar (like-sounding) surname.
Coates : 1: English: habitational name from any of numerous places called Coates for example in Cambridgeshire Gloucestershire Lincolnshire Nottinghamshire Shropshire Sussex and Wiltshire; Cotes in Leicestershire or Staffordshire; or possibly from Coat in Somerset Cote in Oxford and Yorkshire with excrescent -s; or possibly from any of numerous other places similarly named from the new Middle English plural form cotes of Old English cot (plural cotu) ‘cottage’ also ‘shelter’ and sometimes ‘woodman's hut’. It is possible that some bearers may be from a place whose current name is from the dative plural form of this word cotum for example Coatham (Durham) or Cottam Cotham (Nottinghamshire) or from the plural of the related weak noun cote plural coten. Cotham (Nottinghamshire) is early recorded as Cotes and Coton (Cambridgeshire Derbyshire Northamptonshire) have many similar spellings. See also Coate. There are very small places in Midlothian East Lothian and Fife called Coates but the surname seems rarely if ever to be Scottish in origin.2: Americanized form of German and Jewish (Ashkenazic) Kotz or perhaps German Koths.
Coatman : 1: from Middle English cot(e) ‘cottage’ + mann ‘man’ (cotmannus in Domesday Book corresponding to Medieval Latin bordarius) denoting a cottager or cotset in Scotland a cottar. Compare Cotter Cotterel. 2: from Middle English cote ‘outer garment coat’ + man probably denoting a maker or seller of coats. Compare Capman ‘maker or seller of caps’ Fransson p. 116.
Coste : 1: French: topographic name for someone who lived on a slope or riverbank less often on the coast a variant of Côte (see Cote); or a habitational name from (La) Coste the name of several places in the southern part of France. Compare Decoste and Lacoste.2: English (Middlesex): from a short form of the personal name Constantine in its vernacular French or English form.
Cota : 1: Galician: habitational name from any of several places in Galicia (Spain) named Cota. The placename may be from cota ‘animal den’.2: Italian: nickname or metonymic occupational name from cota a variant of cote ‘whetstone’.3: Croatian: nickname from cota ‘lame person’ a derivative of the old Venetian word zoto (see Zotti 2).4: Croatian and Bosniak (Čota): nickname for a lame person a cognate of 3 above based on Croatian dialect čota ‘shrunken foot’ or derived from čotav ‘lame’.5: Altered form of French Côté (see Cote 2).
Cotey : Altered form of French Côté (see Cote 2).
Cottman : 1: English (Durham): variant of Coatman either a status name from Middle English cot(e) ‘cottage’ + mann ‘man’ (corresponding to medieval Latin bordarius) denoting a cottager or cotset in Scotland a cottar or an occupational name from Middle English cote ‘outer garment coat’ + man probably denoting a maker or seller of coats. This surname is now rare in Britain.2: Americanized form of German Kottmann (see Kottman) or Kothmann.
Coty : 1: Altered form of French Côté (see Cote 2).2: French: variant of Costy from Old Norman French costi ‘hill’.3: In some cases possibly also Breton (Finistère; also Le Coty): habitational name from a place called Coty in Brittany (France) from kozh ‘old’ + ti ‘house’. The Breton surname is very rare in France.
De Cotis : Altered form (also Decotis) of Italian De Cotiis: patronymic from Coti itself probably a nickname or a metonymic occupational name from the plural form of cote ‘whetstone’. It is formed with the Latin ablative plural suffix -is imparting the broader sense ‘belonging to of’ in this case ‘member of the Coti family’.
Ducote : French (Ducôté): variant with fused preposition and definite article du ‘from the’ of Côté (see Cote 1).
Kate : 1: English (Middlesex and Hereforshire): probably from a pet form of the female personal name Catherine Catelin or perhaps from a Middle English reflex of the Old Norse male personal name Káti Kati Kate (from kátr ‘merry’).2: Possibly an Americanized form of German Köth see Koeth.3: Dutch (Ten Kate): topographic name from Middle Dutch cate cote ‘cottage hovel small farm’.
Melin : 1: Swedish: probably an ornamental or habitational name formed with the (placename) element mel from Old Norse methal ‘mid middle’ + the adjectival suffix -in a derivative of Latin -in(i)us ‘relating to’.2: Czech (Melín): from a pet form of the personal name Melichar ‘Melchior’.3: French: habitational name from any of the places in Haute-Saône and Côte d'Or all named with the dialect word melin ‘mill’ from Latin molinum.4: French: from a shortened form of the personal name Amelin from ancient Germanic Amalin based on the element amal ‘capable brave eager’.5: English (Lancashire) and Irish: variant of Melling.6: Slovenian: probably a topographic name for someone who lived near a mill from dialect melin ‘mill’.
Neault : French:: 1: variant of Nault and in North America (also) an altered form of this. In France it is found mainly in Côte d'Or.2: variant of Neau.
Northcutt : English (Cornwall): habitational name from any of many minor places in Berkshire Cheshire Cornwall Gloucestershire Hertfordshire Staffordshire and particularly common in Devon called Northcott or Northcote. The placenames derive from Middle English north ‘north northern’ + cote ‘cottage shelter’ or Old English north + cot cote. The spelling of the name is now rare in Britain Northcott being the more common form.
Stonehouse : 1: English: from Middle English ston stan ‘stone’ (Old English stān) + hous(e) ‘house’ (Old English hūs). The surname may be topographic for someone who lived in or by a stone house (something of a rarity in the Middle Ages) or habitational from a place so named such as Stonehouse (Devon Gloucestershire Northumberland). The principal source of the surname is perhaps Stonehouse Cote in Bilsdale (North Yorkshire). Compare Stenhouse.2: Americanized form of Jewish (Ashkenazic) Steinhaus ‘stone house’ a topographic name for someone who lived in or by such a house.
Whitcutt : from Middle English whit ‘white’ + cote ‘cottage cottages’.from or confused with the now extinct Whichcote from Wichcot a deserted medieval village in Stanton Lacy (Shrops) as some forms from Shrops suggest; note Christopher Whichcote 1599 Christopher Whitchcott 1610 in IGI (Burford Shrops); Christofer Whitchcott or Whichcott 1620 in PROB 11 (Stoke Shrops). The place-name may derive from Old English wīc ‘dwelling specialized farm’ + cot ‘cottage hut shelter’.
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Source : DAFN2 : Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, ©2022 by Patrick Hanks and Oxford University Press
FANBI : The Oxford Dictionary if Family Names in Britain and Ireland, ©2016, University of the West of England
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