Cotter is a surname that originates in England and Ireland. It can also be an Anglicization, chiefly in North America, of a similar-sounding German surname.
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Origin of the name
The surname Cotter has several different origins.
The English surname is a status name. This name is made up of the Old English elements 'cot' "cottage", "hut" and the suffix er. In the feudal system a cotter held a cottage by service (rather than by rent). Reaney gives the surname deriving from the Old French cotier "cottager" (see: villein). Early bearers of the English surname are Robert le Robert le Cotier in 1198; and William le Coter(e) in 1270 and 1297.
The Irish name is a reduced anglicised form of the Gaelic Mac Oitir. The personal name Oitir is the Gaelic form of the Old Norse Óttarr. The Old Norse name is made up of the elements ótti "fear", "dread" and herr "army". An early Irish record of the name occurs in 1142, when Mac Mic Ottir .i. Ottir ("the son of Mac Ottir, i.e. Ottir") from the Hebrides, is recorded to have assumed the Kingship of Dublin. For the origins of the noble Irish family claiming descent from this king see: Cotter family. Although unprovable, it is possible that both he and they are descendants of the famous Ohthere of Hålogaland, a great Norwegian adventurer who appears to have gone to Ireland. He is possibly the Ottir Iarla or Earl Ottir mentioned in the Cogad Gáedel re Gallaib, or at least related to him.
The surname can in some cases, mostly in the USA and Canada, be an Americanization of the German surname Kotter.
Similar surnames
Similar, or related surnames include: Coates, Cottier, Kotter. Cotter can be rendered into the Irish language as Mac Coitir and Mac Oitir.
Distribution
According ot MacLysaght who wrote in the mid 20th century, the Irish surname of Cotter was peculiar to Co Cork. There are at least eight place names in Co Cork which incorporate the surname (for example: Ballymacotters near Cloyne).