- 1. English: occupational name for a maker and
repairer of wooden vessels such as barrels, tubs,
buckets, casks, and vats, from Middle English couper,
cowper (apparently from Middle Dutch kuper, a derivative
of kup ‘tub’, ‘container’, which was borrowed
independently into English as coop). The prevalence of
the surname, its cognates, and equivalents bears witness
to the fact that this was one of the chief specialist
trades in the Middle Ages throughout Europe. In America,
the English name has absorbed some cases of
like-sounding cognates and words with similar meaning in
other European languages, for example Dutch Kuiper. 2.
Jewish (Ashkenazic): Americanized form of Kupfer and
Kupper (see Kuper). 3.Dutch: occupational name for a
buyer or merchant, Middle Dutch coper.
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