Coffin Family History

English (southwestern England of Norman origin) and French: nickname from Middle English cofin coffin Old French cof(f)in (from Late Latin cophinus Greek kophinos) ‘container basket; coffer chest (for keeping treasures documents armour etc.)’. Early bearers of this as a hereditary surname were of knightly rank.

Old French cofin was synonymous with coffer and it may be that Cofin was used to denote a keeper of the (royal) coffer attested in Anglo-Latin cofferarius. Compare Coffer.

The modern English word coffin is a specialized development of this term not attested until the 16th century.