Coe
A Middle English surname referring to someone who lived by a quay or inlet.
Name Census estimates that about 192 living Americans carry the first name Coe. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Coe today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Coe births was 2024 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Coe. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
192
~ 1 in 1,785,179 Americans
Peak year
2024
20 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,902
Tracked since 1914
Census
Coe in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 397 people with the first name Coe, which placed it at #24,319 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#24,319
National first-name rank
People counted
397
397 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
71.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Coe
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Coe is White at 71.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (16.6%) and Black (5.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Coe described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Coe at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White71.3% · 283
- Hispanic or Latino16.6% · 66
- Black or African American5.3% · 21
- Two or more races4.0% · 16
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.3% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 2
Popularity
Coe: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Coe from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 70 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Coe by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Coe during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Coes live
Origin
Meaning and history of Coe
The name Coe has its origins in Old English, tracing back to the Anglo-Saxon era in Britain. It is believed to be derived from the Old English word "cu," which means "cow." In those times, the name likely referred to someone who tended cattle or worked with cows in some capacity.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Coe can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, a comprehensive survey of land ownership and taxation in England commissioned by William the Conqueror. This suggests that the name was already in use by the late 11th century.
In the Middle Ages, the name Coe appeared in various historical records and documents. One notable figure was Coe of Gaunt, a 13th-century English nobleman who served as a knight and soldier during the reign of King Edward I. He was recorded as participating in the Welsh Wars and the Scottish Wars of Independence.
During the Renaissance period, the name Coe gained some prominence in the arts. Coe Barker (c. 1510-1580) was an English playwright and poet who wrote several works for the Elizabethan stage. His most well-known play was "The Tragedie of Gorboduc," which is considered one of the earliest English Renaissance tragedies.
In the 17th century, Coe Felton (1628-1689) was a notable English merchant and philanthropist. He made a fortune in the cloth trade and used his wealth to establish several charitable institutions, including a school and an almshouse in his hometown of Felton, Northumberland.
The name Coe also has a significant literary connection. Coe Poe (1809-1849), better known as Edgar Allan Poe, was one of the most influential and renowned American writers and poets of the 19th century. His works, such as "The Raven," "The Fall of the House of Usher," and "The Tell-Tale Heart," have become classics of Gothic and horror literature.
While the name Coe has remained relatively uncommon throughout history, it has been carried by individuals from various walks of life, including nobility, artists, merchants, and writers. Its enduring presence, though modest, reflects its ancient Anglo-Saxon roots and the rich tapestry of English history and culture.
People
Coe + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Coe as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Coe: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Coe?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 192 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Coe going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 1,785,179 US residents.
Is Coe a common name?
We classify Coe as "Very Rare". It ranks above 73.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 220 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Coe most popular?
The single biggest year for Coe was 2024, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Coe is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Coe in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 397 people with the name Coe, or 0.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #24,319 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Coe in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Coe?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Coe on both sides of the split. Of the 393 people counted with this name, 270 were male (68.7%) and 123 were female (31.3%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Coe?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Coe is White at 71.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (16.6%) and Black (5.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Coe most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Coe in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.3% (283 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Coe in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Coe a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Coe in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Coe still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Coe in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Coe can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are called Coe?
You can see how many people share the name Coe on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.