Coburn: Last Name Origin and Family Crest

Heraldry is personal: arms associated with the Cockburn surname were borne by specific families, and sharing the name does not mean sharing the blazon.

What Coburn means

Some records give Cockburn; others give Coburn. Both point to the same Scottish family name. Surname dictionaries give the meaning as “Stream of the wild birds”.

Records show Coburn as one of the forms Cockburn took over time. Before spelling was standardised, one family could appear under several forms. The same family of names includes Cockburne. The Census Bureau's 2010 surname file lists Coburn with 13,741 bearers, at rank 2,625. That is enough to place it in the top 5,000 American surnames.

Research your Coburn family history with a full surname report and painted coat of arms.