Kos

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Jos in US United States, NL Netherlands, ES Spain and 17 more, Coz in FR France, PH Philippines, PE Peru, Coş in TR Türkiye and Cos in MX Mexico.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 5 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Kos is also recorded as 8 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Polish surname27K records spelled Kos4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Poland, United States, United Kingdom, Netherlands

  Also written Koś, Köş, Kós

• Polish surname24K records spelled Kos101 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Poland, United States, Germany, Czechia

  Languages: Polish, English, German

  Also written Kus, Kuś, Kues, Кусь, Koes

• Czech surname15K records spelled Kos8 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Czechia, Slovakia, United States, Netherlands

  Languages: Czech, Slovak

  Also written Kós, Koš, Koş, Kóš

• Hungarian surname4.0K records spelled Kos8 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Slovenia, Hungary, United States, Netherlands

  Also written Kós, Kosz, Kósz, Koş, Kòs

• Ukrainian surname3.8K records spelled Kos40 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Kazakhstan

  Languages: Ukrainian, Russian, Polish

  Also written Кос, Koss, Косс, Коос, Кош

• Turkish surname1.5K records spelled Kos11 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Türkiye, United States, Syria, Slovenia

  Also written Koş, Köş, Kös, Istanköy, Goşh

• a separate surname862 records spelled Kos8 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, India, Slovenia, United Kingdom

  Also written Koş, Ko̵s, Kós, Koś, Köş

• Hindi surname747 records spelled Kos7 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Pakistan, India, United States, United Kingdom

  Languages: Hindi, Urdu

  Also written Koş, Kös, Köş

43 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Kos is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• from a Turkish loanword kos ‘ram’ (from Old Turkish qoc, Ottoman Turkish qog)', perhaps a metonymic occupational name for a shepherd but more probably a nickname for someone thought to resemble the animal.

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• nickname from kos ‘blackbird’, denoting someone thought to resemble the bird in some way, for example someone with a good singing voice. This is a very common surname in Slovenia and Croatia.

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• possibly a nickname for a gossip or a smooth-talker, from Middle High German kbse, koese ‘talk’, ‘chat’. Compare Koser.

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• metonymic occupational name for a basketmaker, from kos ‘basket’.

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• from a Zeeland personal name derived from Constantius (see Constant).

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

FR INSEE — Fichier des noms de famille (1891–2000) — 10 years between 1901–1991. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Milko Kosb. 1892ITSlovene historian (1892–1972)
• Gojmir Anton Kosb. 1896ITSlovenian artist (1896-1970)
• Ćiril Kosb. 1919HRCroatian catholic priest (1919–2003)
• Zdeněk Kosb. 1951CZCzech basketball player
• Marjeta Šašel Kosb. 1952SISlovene archaeologist and classical philologist
• Mateja Kosb. 1958SIresearcher
• Marta Kosb. 1965SISlovene diplomat and politician
• Matevž Kosb. 1966SISlovene literary historian and essayist
• Lovro Kosb. 1999SISlovenian ski jumper
• Pedro KosBRDirector, producer and film editor

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 83 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Kos?

We estimate roughly 7.5 thousand people bear Kos (counting its spellings and scripts) across 9 countries in our records.

In which country does Kos have the most bearers?

Kos is most frequently recorded in France, where it is most often spelled coz.

Where is Kos most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Kos is densest in the Netherlands — about 1 in 3.1 thousand people — even though France holds more of our records for it.

How common is Kos compared with other names?

In the Netherlands, Kos is the 784th most common given name of 134,847 given names recorded there.

What does the name Kos mean?

Recorded meaning: of uncertain origin. It may be an ornamental name from Slavic kos ‘blackbird’, as in 1, or alternatively it may be from Hebrew kos ‘drinking glass’ or Yiddish kos ‘goblet’, ‘cup’, probably applied as…