The Cote surname
In the 2010 U.S. Census, 21,446 people carried this name — #1,681 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 13,800 people counted. That is up 3% from 20,894 in 2000.
Where the name comes from
The origin of the Cote surname
From French Côté, from Latin costa.
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary (en.wiktionary.org) — entry «Cote» (English), by Wiktionary contributors · licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) · excerpt, lightly adapted.
In France’s civil register
France’s register of deaths holds 2,125 people named Cote.
40 of them were born outside France. Those born in France came from 72 départements, most often Loire.
Where it concentrates, on the mapWhere they were born
Fichier des personnes décédées, INSEE — Licence Ouverte 2.0 · deaths recorded in France since 1970, by place of birth.
In Belgium’s population register
At least 62 people named Cote live in Belgium.
Statbel only publishes a name in a municipality when five or more people there share it, so the real number is higher. Most of them live in Namur.
Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.
Where they live today
Statbel (Statistics Belgium), family names of the population by municipality, 1 January 2026 — CC BY 4.0.
In Switzerland’s population statistics
49 people named Cote live in Switzerland.
They live in 6 of Switzerland’s 26 cantons, most of all in Vaud.
Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.
Where they live today
Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO), «Surnames of the permanent resident population by canton», 2025, opendata.swiss/en/dataset/nachnamen-der-standigen-wohnbevolkerung-nach-kanton3 · names with fewer than 3 bearers in a canton are not published.
In print
Cote in American newspapers,
1893–1957.
Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain · 334,490 pages in all carry the name.
Who carried it
People named Cote,
with a public archive behind them.
-
Pete Cote 1902–1987 · baseball player -
Eduardo Cote Lamus 1928–1964 · poet -
David M. Cote 1952– · entrepreneur -
Isabelle M. Côté 1962– · biologist -
Brandin Cote 1981– · ice hockey player -
Henry Cote 1864–1940 · baseball player
Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons (CC0) · 58 lives in all are documented under this name.
Nearby in the index
Surnames next to Cote.
- Costella 378 · U.S. census
- Coster 1,646 · U.S. census
- Costes 256 · U.S. census
- Costi 132 · U.S. census
- Coston 4,969 · U.S. census
- Cot 267 · U.S. census
- Coto 2,814 · U.S. census
- Coton 174 · U.S. census
- Cotta 1,129 · U.S. census
- Cotte 357 · U.S. census
- Cotten 5,719 · U.S. census
- Cottet 175 · U.S. census
When the index is not enough
This page says where Cote is.
A volume says what happened to it.
Every page in the index is free and stays free. The Heritage Volume is the long form: the full paper trail, the arms, the crossing — bound, and yours.