Cole
A surname with several possible roots, most often from the nickname for Nicholas or from place-names, and sometimes linked to an old personal name.
The #126 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 1,581 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Cole has more than one historical source. In English records it can be a shortened form of Nicholas, where Cole functioned as a nickname or pet form; it may also come from place-names such as Coleby or other local names built on the same element. Older scholarship also treated it as an ancient Teutonic personal name, and some writers connected it with the idea of darkness or swarthiness, though that explanation is less certain.
History
The name is very old in England and appears early in medieval records, both as a personal name and later as a hereditary surname. It also spread widely through place-based surnames, especially in eastern and central England, and it has remained common enough to rank among the better-known English surnames today. Some Continental forms may also have reinforced the English surname through occasional migration.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Bardsley noted that Collett was understood as a diminutive of Col or Cole, showing how widely this short form was used in medieval naming.
From the historical record
“shire. COLE. Places in cos. "Wilts and Somer- set. Also a very ancient Teutonic personal name. In Domesd. it aj^pears as a bap- tismal— in the H.R. as a family name. K COLEBROOKE. Places in Salop and Devon. COLEB Y. A parish in co. Lincoln.”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United KingdomNotable people named Cole
- Ashley Cole (b. 1980)
- Natalie Cole (1950–2015)
- Joe Cole (b. 1981)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.