Copp
A surname most likely from a hilltop or other raised place, or from an old word for “head.”
The #9,378 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 89,001 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The most common explanation treats Copp as a local surname from Old English copp, meaning a summit, top, or hill-crest. In this sense it likely described someone who lived “at the copp,” on a high spot or eminence. Some older writers also connect the name with related Germanic words for “head,” but the hill-top explanation is the clearest and best supported in the sources here.
History
19th-century surname dictionaries repeatedly place Copp with other topographic names such as Cope and Copeland. The name appears in English records in forms like Cope and Copp, and later spellings sometimes overlapped with similar surnames derived from hills or high ground. Because the word was short and common, it also seems to have generated or blended with several related surnames.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
A few old surname writers linked Copp to the same root as German Kopf, “head,” showing how easily “hilltop” names could be confused with “head” names in early scholarship.
From the historical record
“COPNER. A-Sax. copenere, a lover. COPP. The top of a hill, or any emi- nence. COPPEN. COPPIN. Elevated— as ^^ cop2)in in Iicvin," elevated to heaven. Jamieson. The root appears to be A-Sax. coj), the summit. Probably from the lofty residence of the first bearer. COPPER. A cup bearer. "Palice of Honour," quoted by…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom