Cotter - Irish Surname Origin & Meaning
Irish form: Mac Coitir
Meaning: from a Norse personal name (Ottar)
Traditional stronghold: Cork
Pronunciation: KOT-er; Irish Mac Coitir: mock KOTCH-ir
History of the Cotter name
Cotter is one of the few Irish surnames of Norse origin: Mac Coitir (earlier Mac Oitir) means 'son of Ottir', a Viking personal name, and the family descends from the Norse-Gaelic world of Cork harbour. Their later seat was at Anngrove near Carrigtwohill in east Cork, and the name has remained heavily concentrated in County Cork ever since. The Cotters rose to gentry status while staying Catholic and Jacobite: Sir James Cotter commanded James II's forces in the south, and the execution of his son, James Cotter the Younger, in 1720 on a charge widely seen as political provoked riots and a wave of lament poetry in Irish, making him a Munster martyr-figure for a generation.
Variants: MacCotter · Cottier · Cotterell
Famous bearers of the name
- Sir James Cotter - Jacobite commander of James II's forces in Munster.
- James Cotter the Younger - Cork gentleman whose 1720 execution became a Jacobite cause célèbre.
- Patrick Cotter O'Brien - Kinsale-born giant, reputedly the first man verified at over eight feet tall.
Related names from the same part of Ireland: Murphy · O'Sullivan · McCarthy · Daly · Collins · Flynn · Healy · Casey