An Italian and Spanish surname, Costa comes from the Latin term ‘costa’ which refers to a riverbank or a person living near a river or sea. Variations in spelling Costa include De Costa, Di Costa and Da Costa. In England most with the Costa name live in the southern region, generally in the city of London, Essex, Kent, Surrey, Middlesex, Hampshire and Sussex. The Scottish counties of Midlothian and Angus have the greater Costa populations. Within the United States the Costa surname is scattered across most of the country. The greatest populations live in Massachusetts, California, New York, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania. Famous: Albert Costa (a professional tennis player), Don Costa (a music arranger and record producer), Gal Costa ( a well-known signer from Brazil), Rui Costa (a professional footballer from Portugal), Matt Costa (a songwriter and singer), Marcos Costa (a professional boxer from Brazil), Nikka Costa (a signer) and Johnny Costa (a jazz pianist).