A Hebrew surname, Cohen was spelled ‘kohen’ and ’kohein’ and it means a priest.
It is a very common Jewish surname. The Cohen surname is also found in German and Ireland.

The Gaelic form was O’Cadhain from the term ‘cadhan’ which meant a wild goose.
A German form is Kaplan and it means chaplain.

Spelling variations for Cohen include Cohn, Kagan, Kaplan, Coyne, Kahane, Kohen, Cahn, Kyne, Coyney, Koine, Kilcoyne, Coen and Conin.

In Ireland the Cohen surname was first in the 13th century in Leinster and Connacht regions.
In the 19th century many Irish Cohen families resettled in the United States and Australia.

English regions with Cohen families is mainly in London and in Lancashire county. The Scottish counties with higher Cohen populations include Lanarkshire and Midlothian.

In the northeast section of the United States is where most with the Cohen surname live. States with higher percentages of Cohen families include; Pennsylvania, New York New Jersey, Connecticut, and then out west in California.


Famous: Samuel Cohen (physicist who invented the W70 warhead - neutron bomb), Allen Cohen (music composer), Claudia Cohen (social columnist), Richard Cohen (columnist for The Washington Post), Marc Cohen (singer and song writer), David X. Cohen (TV writer and producer), Andy Cohen (professional baseball player), Liran Cohen (footballer in Israel), Ben Cohen (co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream) and Joshua Lionel Cohen (developer of Lionel trains).