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Costa Family History

Costa Surname Meaning

Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese, Galician, southern French, and Italian: topographic name for someone who lived on a slope or river bank, or on the coast (ultimately from Latin costa ‘rib, side, flank’, also used in a transferred topographic sense), or a habitational name from any of numerous places called with this word.

Compare Spanish Cuesta and Lacosta. Jewish (Sephardic): adoption of the Portuguese surname (see 1 above) at the moment of conversion to Roman Catholicism. After the return to Judaism (generations later), some descendants retained the name their families used as Catholics.

American shortened (and altered) form of Greek Costas and its standard variant Kostas or of any of various patronymics and other derivatives of this personal name. Compare Kosta.

Greek (typically Cypriot): variant of the genitival patronymic Kosta. Americanized form of Albanian and Czech Kosta; Croatian Košta (see Kosta).

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022


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Where is the Costa family from?

You can see how Costa families moved over time by selecting different census years. The Costa family name was found in the USA, the UK, Canada, and Scotland between 1840 and 1920. The most Costa families were found in USA in 1920. In 1891 there were 120 Costa families living in London. This was about 58% of all the recorded Costa's in United Kingdom. London had the highest population of Costa families in 1891.
Use census records and voter lists to see where families with the Costa surname lived. Within census records, you can often find information like name of household members, ages, birthplaces, residences, and occupations.
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What did your Costa ancestors do for a living?

In 1939, Taxi Driver and Unpaid Domestic Duties were the top reported jobs for men and women in the United Kingdom named Costa. 19% of Costa men worked as a Taxi Driver and 77% of Costa women worked as an Unpaid Domestic Duties. Some less common occupations for Americans named Costa were Licensed Victualler and Unpaid Household Duties.

View Census Data for Costa | Data not to scale

*We display top occupations by gender to maintain their historical accuracy during times when men and women often performed different jobs.

Top Male Occupations In 1939

  • Taxi Driver
    19%
  • General Labourer
    19%
  • Retired
    14%
  • Licensed Victualler
    14%

Top Female Occupations In 1939

  • Unpaid Domestic Duties
    77%
  • Unpaid Domestic
    7%
  • Private Means
    4%
  • Unpaid Household Duties
    3%

What Costa family records will you find?

Census Records

There are 93,000 census records available for the last name Costa. Like a window into their day-to-day life, Costa census records can tell you where and how your ancestors worked, their level of education, veteran status, and more.

Search UK census records for Costa

Passenger Lists

There are 65,000 immigration records available for the last name Costa. Passenger lists are your ticket to knowing when your ancestors arrived in the UK, and how they made the journey - from the ship name to ports of arrival and departure.

View all Costa immigration records

Draft Cards

There are 22,000 military records available for the last name Costa. For the veterans among your Costa ancestors, military collections provide insights into where and when they served, and even physical descriptions.

View all Costa military records

You've only scratched the surface of Costa family history

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What is the average Costa lifespan?

Between 1945 and 2004, in the United States, Costa life expectancy was at its lowest point in 1948, and highest in 2002. The average life expectancy for Costa in 1945 was 58, and 75 in 2004.

View Social Security Death Index (SSDI) for Costa

An unusually short lifespan might indicate that your Costa ancestors lived in harsh conditions. A short lifespan might also indicate health problems that were once prevalent in your family. The SSDI is a searchable database of more than 70 million names. You can find birthdates, death dates, addresses and more.

Discover the unique achievements of ancestors in the Costa family tree

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