Coes History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England
Ireland

The ancient Anglo-Saxon culture once found in Britain is the soil from which the many generations of the Coes family have grown. The name Coes was given to a member of the family who was a jackdaw. Checking further we found the name was derived from the Old English word coo. This was in turn derived from the Old Norse word ka, which was their word for jackdaw. Thus the original bearer of this name must have reminded his contemporaries of a jackdaw and was referred to as "Coes" as a nickname.

Early Origins of the Coes family

The surname Coes was first found in Lancashire, where the Coes family held a family seat from ancient times. The earliest known bearer of the name was Osbert Ka, who was recorded in the Pipe Rolls of Lancashire in 1188.

Early History of the Coes family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Coes research. Another 103 words (7 lines of text) covering the years 1188, 1221, 1783 and 1860 are included under the topic Early Coes History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Coes Spelling Variations

Sound was what guided spelling in the essentially pre-literate Middle Ages, so one person's name was often recorded under several variations during a single lifetime. Also, before the advent of the printing press and the first dictionaries, the English language was not standardized. Therefore, spelling variations were common, even among the names of the most literate people. Known variations of the Coes family name include Coe, Coes, Cowe, Kow, Cawe, Kowe, Coo, Ku, Koo and others.

Early Notables of the Coes family

More information is included under the topic Early Coes Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Coes family to Ireland

Some of the Coes family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt. More information about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Coes family

For political, religious, and economic reasons, thousands of English families boarded ships for Ireland, the Canadas, the America colonies, and many of smaller tropical colonies in the hope of finding better lives abroad. Although the passage on the cramped, dank ships caused many to arrive in the New World diseased and starving, those families that survived the trip often went on to make valuable contributions to those new societies to which they arrived. Early immigrants bearing the Coes surname or a spelling variation of the name include : Robert Coe, who sailed from Ipswich to Watertown on the ship Francis in 1634; Matthew Coe, who emigrated from Bristol to Portsmouth in the year 1640; Alester Cowe, who arrived in Boston, Massachussets in 1652.