This surname is derived from a geographical locality. 'of Cotton.' There are parishes in the Dioceses of Norwich and Lichfield of this name, but several places not arrived at parochial honours are so called. The the Dioceses of Ely and Peterborough also have each a parish styled Coton, of which instances are given below.

Robert de Cottone, Cambridgeshire, 1273. Hundred Rolls.

Richard de Cottoune, Cambridgeshire, ibid.

William de Coton, Pardons Roll, 15 Richard II.

Ralph de Cotun, Northumberland, 1273. Hundred Rolls.

Richard de Cotton, Norfolk, ibid.

1573-4. Married — John Cotton and Elizabeth Bradborne: Marriage Lic. (Faculty Office).

Of local origin from one of the many places of the name in Perthshire, Kincardineshire, Angus, and Aberdeenshire. A common place name in Fife in the seventeenth century.

(English) belonging to Cot(t)on, or Dweller At the Cottages [Old English cotun, for cotum, dat. pl. of cot] Cotton in Derbyshire was called Cotun in Domesday Book; and Coton, one mile N.E, of Stafford, was called Cotes in the 12th cent. (Anglo-French-Span.-Arab.) a nickname or trade-name from the material [French coton, Span, al-godon, Arab, qutun, cotton]

(English) One who came from Coton or Cotton, the names of various places in England; dweller at the cottages.

Cottun, a place in the department of Calvados in Normandy; also several parishes in the counties of York, Chester, Stafford, &c. Both forms, viz. De Cottun, and De Cotton, are found in the H.R. The English Gazetteer gives many places called Cotton. Lord Combermere's family trace unbrokenly to the days of King John, and there is some evidence of their having been seated at Cotton or Coton, co. Salop, prior to the Conquest.

Mr. Shirley, speaking of Cotton of Landwade, Baronet, says: "It appears doubtful whether this family were denominated from Cotton, a manor in Cambridgeshire, or from a place of the same name in the parish of Stone, in Kent. There is another Cotton Hall, in Ixning, co. Suffolk, which lays claim to the same distinction." Noble and Gentle Men.

This name affords several derivations. Local, Welsh, Coedton, the woody hill; Coiton, Cuiton, Cornish-British; Cwtton, Welsh, the cottage hill. Cotden, Saxon, the cot in the valley; Cwthen, Welsh, the ancient cottage or dwelling.

Forstemann makes Cot, Cotta, Cotuna, Cuotila as Old German names to interchange with god or got; and Ferguson thinks these correspond with our Cott, Cotton, Cottle. The name Cotton is probably from Cottun, dep. Calvados, or Cotton, name of places in cos. Chester, Stafford, Suffolk, and York. De Cottun and De Cotton are found in H.R.

A location name in Suffolk.

There are several old and sometimes distinguished Leicestershire families of the name of Cotton. Staffordshire appears to have been the principal home of the name, where the De Cotons of Ridware of the 14th and 15th centuries were known in more modern times as the Cottons; the following Leicestershire families of the Cottons, those of Laughton, Dadlington, and Broughton Astley, all claim descent from Thomas Cotton of Staffordshire, in the reign of Henry VII. (N.). Other families doubtless originated in Leicestershire. The name also occurs in Herefordshire. In the 13th century there were De Cottons in Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, and Shropshire (H. R.). There are several parishes and townships called Cotton and Coton in the midlands, especially in Staffordshire, and afterwards in Shropshire, Leicestershire, Cambridgeshire, and also in Suffolk.

Cotton is a very ancient Staffordshire name. The De Cotons of Ridware during the 14th and 15th centuries spelt their name Cotton in more modern times (Nichols' "Leicestershire"). The Leicestershire Cottons came from this family. The name is also represented in Herefordshire.