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Coppinger History Early Origins Early History Spelling Variations Early Notables Ranking

Ireland United States Canada Australia West Indies

Contemporary Notables Related Stories Citations

Coppinger History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England
Ireland

Coppinger is one of the many names that the Normans brought with them when they conquered England in 1066. The Coppinger family lived in Suffolk which is derived from the Old English copp, a word for the top or summit of a hill, and indicates someone who lived in such a place. Another reference presumes that the name was derived from the word "coppin," which was a "piece of yarn taken from a spindle." 1 The Suffolk expression "To live like a Coppinger, points to the wealth and hospitality of a family of this name who flourished in the 16th and 17th century at Buxhall." 1

Early Origins of the Coppinger family

The surname Coppinger was first found in Suffolk where they held a family seat from very early times. Records from the year 1290 showed Greffrey Coppinger and Walter Coppinger in Waketown, Norfolk. Roger Coppinger of Waketun is listed in Norfolk in that same era, in the Rotuli Hundredorum. Other early records of the name include Seman Copinger, listed in the Subsidy Rolls of Suffolk in 1327; William Copenger listed in the Feet of Fines of Suffolk in 1383; and William Copynger, listed in the Feet of Fines of Essex in 1489. 2

Early History of the Coppinger family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Coppinger research. Another 180 words (13 lines of text) covering the years 1319, 1411, 1412, 1415, 1416, 1436, 1503, 1512, 1513, 1532, 1547, 1583, 1592, 1603, 1604, 1621, 1626, 1646, 1659, 1675 and 1797 are included under the topic Early Coppinger History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Coppinger Spelling Variations

Anglo-Norman names tend to be marked by an enormous number of spelling variations. This is largely due to the fact that Old and Middle English lacked any spelling rules when Norman French was introduced in the 11th century. The languages of the English courts at that time were French and Latin. These various languages mixed quite freely in the evolving social milieu. The final element of this mix is that medieval scribes spelled words according to their sounds rather than any definite rules, so a name was often spelled in as many different ways as the number of documents it appeared in. The name was spelled Coppinger, Coppenger, Copenger, Copinger, Coppynger, Copinsher and many more.

Early Notables of the Coppinger family

Notables of this surname at this time include:

Edmund Coppinger (d. 1592), was a "fanatic, described as 'descended of a good house and linage, and one of her Maiestie's sworne servants, but a yonger brother, having no great livelihood' With a York...
There are legends of a so called "Cruel Coppinger," said to have been a giant of a man from Denmark, shipwrecked off Cornwall, where he became a tyrant of a pirate and smuggler

Coppinger Ranking

In the United States, the name Coppinger is the 15,884^th most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. 3

Migration of the Coppinger family to Ireland

Some of the Coppinger family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt.
Another 65 words (5 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Coppinger migration to the United States +

Because of the political and religious discontent in England, families began to migrate abroad in enormous numbers. Faced with persecution and starvation at home, the open frontiers and generally less oppressive social environment of the New World seemed tantalizing indeed to many English people. The trip was difficult, and not all made it unscathed, but many of those who did get to Canada and the United States made important contributions to the young nations in which they settled. Some of the first North American settlers with Coppinger name or one of its variants:

Coppinger Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

Joseph Coppinger, aged 55, who landed in New York in 1812 4
Joseph Coppinger, who arrived in Charles Town (Charleston), South Carolina in 1820
James E. Coppinger, who arrived in New York, NY in 1836
James Coppinger, who arrived in Philadelphia in 1844
Maggie Coppinger, aged 30, who landed in America, in 1892
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Coppinger Settlers in United States in the 20th Century

John Coppinger, aged 22, who immigrated to the United States from Mitchelstown, in 1900
Hanna Coppinger, aged 26, who settled in America from Kilworth, in 1904
Mary Coppinger, aged 60, who landed in America from Thurles, in 1904
William Coppinger, aged 21, who immigrated to the United States, in 1905
William Coppinger, aged 45, who landed in America from Liverpool, England, in 1906
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Coppinger migration to Canada +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Coppinger Settlers in Canada in the 19th Century

Thomas Coppinger, who died en route to Quebec in 1847
Mr. Thomas Coppinger, aged 30 who was emigrating through Grosse Isle Quarantine Station, Quebec aboard the ship "Saguenay" departing 5th June 1847 from Cork, Ireland; the ship arrived on 22nd August 1847 but he died on board 5
Charles Coppinger, who was on record in Ontario Canada, in 1861

Coppinger migration to Australia +

Emigration to Australia followed the First Fleets of convicts, tradespeople and early settlers. Early immigrants include:

Coppinger Settlers in Australia in the 19th Century

Mr. John Coppinger, (b. 1817), aged 21, Irish labourer who was convicted in Cork, Ireland for 7 years for stealing, transported aboard the "Clyde" on 11th May 1838, arriving in New South Wales, Australia 6
Thomas Coppinger, aged 24, a labourer, who arrived in South Australia in 1858 aboard the ship "Stamboul"

Coppinger migration to West Indies +

The British first settled the British West Indies around 1604. They made many attempts but failed in some to establish settlements on the Islands including Saint Lucia and Grenada. By 1627 they had managed to establish settlements on St. Kitts (St. Christopher) and Barbados, but by 1641 the Spanish had moved in and destroyed some of these including those at Providence Island. The British continued to expand the settlements including setting the First Federation in the British West Indies by 1674; some of the islands include Barbados, Bermuda, Cayman Island, Turks and Caicos, Jamaica and Belize then known as British Honduras. By the 1960's many of the islands became independent after the West Indies Federation which existed from 1958 to 1962 failed due to internal political conflicts. After this a number of Eastern Caribbean islands formed a free association. 7

Coppinger Settlers in West Indies in the 17th Century

Matthew Coppinger, who arrived in Barbados in 1675
John Coppinger who settled in Barbados in 1680

Contemporary Notables of the name Coppinger (post 1700) +

John Thomas "Rocky" Coppinger (b. 1974), American Major League Baseball player
James Coppinger (b. 1981), English footballer
Charles Coppinger (1851-1877), English cricketer
Allan Coppinger, Instructor and Adjunct Professor of Architecture at the University of Manitoba
Harry Coppinger (b. 1888), Canadian physician and surgeon of Manitoba
Ruth Coppinger, Irish activist and politician, county councillor in Fingal County
Raymond Coppinger, professor of biology at Hampshire College (1969-), expert in canine behavior

Citations +

Lower, Mark Anthony, Patronymica Britannica, A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russel Smith, 1860. Print.
Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)
"What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)
Charbonneau, André, and Doris Drolet-Dubé. A Register of Deceased Persons at Sea and on Grosse Île in 1847. The Minister of Canadian Heritage, 1997. ISBN: 0-660-198/1-1997E (p. 70)
Convict Records Voyages to Australia (Retrieved 24th February 2021). Retrieved from https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/clyde
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_West_Indies