2000
#79,676
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 222
First available Census row
Per 100,000 0.08
Very Rare Last name
Coetzee
A South African Afrikaans surname originally derived from a Dutch occupational name for a basket weaver.
According to the 2020 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 501 Americans carry the last name Coetzee. That puts it at #51,462 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 0.15 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 684,140 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Coetzee surname. You will find the Census Bureau frequency data, a multi-census history view, an ancestry and ethnicity breakdown based on self-reported demographics, the name's meaning and origin where available, and answers to the most common questions people ask about this surname.
For British records, Name Census UK has a British surname profile for Coetzee with 1881 census detail, origin facts and modern UK distribution where available.
Bearers in the US
501
1 in 684,140
Census rank
#51,462
2020 decennial data
Per 100,000
0.1
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
437
very rare in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 437 bearers of the surname Coetzee in its 2020 decennial surname file. At a rate of 0.15 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 51462nd position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Coetzee, the largest self-reported group is White at 53.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (41.4%) and Black (3.7%).
Origin
Meaning and origin of Coetzee
The surname Coetzee has its origins in South Africa, tracing back to the 17th century Dutch settlers. It is a patronymic name derived from the Afrikaans masculine given name Coetzee, which is a diminutive form of the Dutch name Coert or Coert-Jan, itself a contraction of the names Conraad and Jan.
Coetzee is a common surname among the Afrikaner population of South Africa, particularly in the Western Cape province. The earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in Dutch East India Company records from the late 1600s, when the Dutch established a settlement at the Cape of Good Hope.
One of the earliest known bearers of the surname was Jacobus Coetzee, a farmer and landowner who lived in the Stellenbosch region in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Another notable early figure was Dirk Coetzee, a Dutch Reformed Church minister who served in the Cape Colony in the late 1700s.
During the Great Trek of the 1830s and 1840s, when many Afrikaners migrated eastward from the Cape Colony, the Coetzee surname spread to other parts of what is now South Africa. Some prominent individuals bearing the name include the following:
1. J.M. Coetzee (born 1940), a Nobel Prize-winning novelist and academic, widely regarded as one of the greatest living writers in the English language.
2. Dirk Coetzee (1945-2013), a former security officer who became a whistleblower against the apartheid government's covert operations in the 1980s.
3. Albertus Coetzee (1877-1949), a South African politician and lawyer who served as Minister of Justice and Minister of Labour.
4. Fanie Coetzee (born 1941), a former South African rugby union player who played as a fly-half for the national team.
5. Steve Coetzee (born 1979), a former professional cricketer who played for the South African national team as a left-arm fast bowler.
While the surname Coetzee is most prevalent in South Africa, it can also be found among communities of South African descent in other parts of the world, such as Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Coetzee
Among Census respondents with the surname Coetzee, the largest self-reported group is White at 53.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (41.4%) and Black (3.7%).
The bar chart below shows how Coetzee bearers 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 surname, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown for every Census year so the breakdown stays comparable over time. When the source file also includes raw headcounts, Name Census shows those alongside the percentages in the legend.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A person's surname does not determine their race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the Coetzee surname at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White53.1% · 232
- Two or more races41.4% · 181
- Black or African American3.7% · 16
- Hispanic or Latino1.4% · 6
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 2
Timeline
Historical Census data for Coetzee
Coetzee appears in 3 published Census surname files: 2000, 2010, 2020. The cards below show how the name's rank and bearer count changed across each release.
2010
#64,388
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 309
+87 bearers (+39.2%)
Per 100,000 0.10
Rank movement Up 15,288 places
2020
#51,462
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 437
+128 bearers (+41.4%)
Per 100,000 0.15
Rank movement Up 12,926 places
| Year | Rank | Count | Per 100K | Count change | Rank change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | #79,676 | 222 | 0.08 | First available Census row | First available Census row |
| 2010 | #64,388 | 309 | 0.10 | +87 bearers (+39.2%) | Up 15,288 places |
| 2020 | #51,462 | 437 | 0.15 | +128 bearers (+41.4%) | Up 12,926 places |
For 2020, the Census Bureau published race and Hispanic-origin columns as counts rather than percentages. Name Census converts those counts back into shares so the ancestry section stays comparable with the older surname files.
Year on year
2010 vs 2020 Census
How has the Coetzee surname changed between Census years? The chart shows bearer count side by side, and the table compares rank, count, and frequency.
Census year comparison
20102020
| Metric | 2010 | 2020 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | #64,388 | #51,462 | 20.1% |
| Count | 309 | 437 | 41.4% |
| Per 100K | 0.10 | 0.15 | 46.2% |
Between the 2010 and 2020 Census, the number of Coetzee bearers went from 309 to 437 (+41.4% change). The surname moved up 12,926 positions in the national ranking, going from #64,388 to #51,462.
FAQ
Coetzee surname: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. have the surname Coetzee?
Name Census estimates that about 501 living Americans carry the surname Coetzee. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 684,140 residents.
How common is Coetzee?
Coetzee ranks #51,462 in the 2020 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Very Rare." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 0.15 per 100,000 residents, which is about 0 people out of every 100,000.
How many people with this surname were counted in the Census?
The raw 2020 Census file counted 437 people with the surname Coetzee. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (501), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
What does 0.15 per 100,000 actually mean?
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 0.15 per 100,000 means that if you picked a random group of 100,000 U.S. residents, you would expect about 0 of them to have the surname Coetzee.
Has Coetzee become more or less common over time?
Between 2010 and 2020, the surname Coetzee went from 309 recorded bearers to 437. That is an increase of 128 (+41.4%). In the national ranking it rose from #64,388 to #51,462.
What does the Census say about the background of Coetzee?
Among Census respondents with the surname Coetzee, the largest self-reported group is White at 53.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (41.4%) and Black (3.7%). These figures come from the 2020 Census Bureau surname tables, based on how respondents described their own race and ethnicity.
Which group reports this surname most often?
White is the largest self-reported group for the surname Coetzee in the 2020 Census, accounting for 53.1% (232 people in the source table).
What is the full ancestry breakdown?
Coetzee appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2020 file are White (53.1%), Two or More Races (41.4%), Black (3.7%). For 2020, the source file also published raw headcounts for each group, which is why this page can show both percentages and counts in the ancestry section.
Is this page using the latest Census data?
Yes. This page is using the latest surname file currently loaded on Name Census, which is 2020. The historical section above also keeps any older Census surname entries we have for Coetzee (2000, 2010, 2020).
Does the Census include every surname?
No. The Census Bureau only publishes surnames that appeared at least 100 times in a given decennial Census. That means very rare surnames are excluded entirely, and a surname can appear in one Census release but disappear from a later one if it falls below the reporting threshold.
Why don't the ancestry percentages always add up to exactly 100%?
There are two main reasons: rounding and suppression. The Census Bureau rounds published values, and it may suppress very small cells to protect privacy. For 2020, the Bureau also published raw group counts rather than direct percentages, so Name Census converts those counts back into shares for comparability across census years.
What does Coetzee mean?
A South African Afrikaans surname originally derived from a Dutch occupational name for a basket weaver. The fuller origin note on this page goes into more detail.
Where does the surname data come from?
All surname statistics on Name Census are drawn from the US Census Bureau's decennial surname frequency tables. These files list every surname that appeared 100 or more times in the 2020 Census, along with a count, a per-100,000 rate, and a self-reported demographic breakdown. You can read the full explanation on our methodology page.
How does Name Census estimate living bearers?
For surnames, Name Census does not age cohorts the way it does for first names. Instead, it takes the Census Bureau's published frequency for Coetzee (0.15 per 100,000) and applies that rate to the current U.S. resident population to estimate how many living Americans have the surname today.
How many people have the last name Coetzee?
See how many people have the surname Coetzee on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.