Cohen

Cohen: name meaning, origin & popularity

Meaning
“priest”
Origin
Hebrew
Say it
KOH-ən · 2 syllables
Used for
Boys (98% of all uses)

From Hebrew kohen, meaning 'priest.' It is historically a Jewish hereditary surname denoting priestly lineage and is only recently used as a given name in English-speaking contexts.

How popular is Cohen?

2024451 per million US babies
1880192019602000
Drag the line or the slider to read any year. Values are per million US births recorded by Social Security. Records before about 1937 undercount births, so early peaks can look taller than they were.

Babies named Cohen in 20241,500

2024 rank#239 boys

Peak year2024

Total US babies since 188021,796

Cohen is rising: use over the last five years is 1.6× what it was a decade earlier.

Names like Cohen

Variants, related forms and names with the same roots.

  • Noahrest; comfort · Hebrew
  • Jamessupplanter · Hebrew
  • Elijahmy God is Yahweh · Hebrew
  • JohnYahweh is gracious · Hebrew
  • Michaelwho is like God? · Hebrew
  • Benjaminson of the right hand · Hebrew
  • Levijoined, attached · Hebrew
  • DanielGod is my judge · Hebrew

Cohen questions

What does the name Cohen mean?

Cohen means "priest". It comes from Hebrew. From Hebrew kohen, meaning 'priest.' It is historically a Jewish hereditary surname denoting priestly lineage and is only recently used as a given name in English-speaking contexts.

Is Cohen a boy or girl name?

Cohen is mainly a boy's name in US records (98% of uses since 1880).

How popular is Cohen?

1,500 US babies were named Cohen in 2024. Its peak year was 2024.

How do you pronounce Cohen?

Cohen is usually pronounced KOH-ən.

Birth counts: US Social Security Administration national data, 1880–2024 (names given to 5+ babies of a sex in a year). How we write meanings.