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Surname Etymology and Meaning of COATES

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Name meanings and etymologies are often disputed. The information here is compiled from freely available sources, and no claims whatsoever are made for accuracy, either historical or etymological.

1. English: status name for a cottager (see Cotter 2), or a topographic name for someone who lived in a relatively humble dwelling (from Middle English cotes, plural (or genitive) of cote, cott), or a habitational name from any of the numerous places named with this word, especially Coates in Cambridgeshire and Cotes in Leicestershire.
2. Scottish: variant of Coutts.
3. Americanized spelling of German and Jewish Kotz or German Koths, from a variant of the medieval personal name Godo (see Gottfried).

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names (2003)