Copper Family History

English (Kent and Surrey): occupational name either from Middle English copere, a variant of cupere ‘cooper maker or seller of casks, buckets, and tubs’, found late as copper, or from Middle English copper, cupper ‘maker of cups and small vessels’ (Old Norse koppari).

English: in Sussex and perhaps the adjacent counties, probably also a variant of Coppard, either from a Middle English (from Old French, Middle Dutch, or both) personal name Coppard (an extended form of Cop, a pet form of Jacob) or perhaps from Middle English cop(e), coppe ‘top, head’ + the pejorative suffix -ard, perhaps for someone with a large head.

Altered form of German Kopper.