# The given name "Cotton". **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 3, 2010, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-given-name-cotton/555929 "2010-10-03T17:09:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2010, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-given-name-cotton/555929/21 "2010-10-05T12:53:49Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > > [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > > > You beat me to it. > > > > His father’s name was Increase. While I can see the biblical connection to the name, it seems odd to name someone Increase. > > Fly-Fornication Richardson and Kill-Sin Pimple probably thought names like that were perfectly okay. > > (As I understand it, it was the habit of Puritan groups in the new world to name children by opening the family Bible at random and using the first word or phrase their eyes alighted upon. It did right by Fear-God Barebone, but If-Christ-Had-Not-Died-For-Thee-Thou-Hadst-Been-Damned Barebone changed his name to Nicholas.) > > [One cite of many](http://tywkiwdbi.blogspot.com/2009/03/unusual-puritan-names.html), as the names ought to be easy to google. I’m not sure if he was a Puritan, but let’s not forget whale oil salesman and banker [Preserved Fish](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preserved_Fish). ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2010, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-given-name-cotton/555929/22 "2010-10-05T13:44:10Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > Where did your name come from, Cotton I. Joe? Any relation to G.I. Joe? One of the detectives in Ed McBain’s 87 Precient mysteries is [Cotton Hawes](http://www.angelfire.com/in/jenmcclung/hawes.html). Named after his father’s greatest hero, Cotton Mather. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2010, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-given-name-cotton/555929/23 "2010-10-05T14:44:35Z")
It’s a nice sounding name, isn’t it. All it would take, I think, is for a sexy character on tv to be named Cotton for it to gain in popularity. Maybe a TD&H lawyer with a dark history on a soap opera? Cotton Stone esq? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2010, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-given-name-cotton/555929/24 "2010-10-05T15:20:49Z")
> [@Shmendrik](#): > > …I’m not sure if he was a Puritan, but let’s not forget whale oil salesman and banker [Preserved Fish](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preserved_Fish). Preserved Killick is the Captain’s manservant in the Aubrey/Maturin Napoleonic sea adventure books. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2010, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-given-name-cotton/555929/25 "2010-10-05T18:44:13Z")
Love those strange old names. I was surprised when I discovered that [Learned Hand](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learned_Hand) wasn’t just a fictional wise judge used in hypotheticals, but an actual historial figure. Another one I first heard in **America: The Book** was George Washington’s nephew, [Bushrod Washington](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushrod_Washington). Whenever I hear a name like “Learned” or “Bushrod”, I wonder: what did their friends call them when they were growing up? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2010, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-given-name-cotton/555929/26 "2010-10-05T20:08:56Z")
Barefoot Sanders and Kenesaw Mountain Landis were two other colorfully-named Federal judges. > **[Barefoot Sanders](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barefoot_Sanders)** > > Harold Barefoot Sanders Jr. (February 5, 1925 – September 21, 2008) was an American attorney, politician, and jurist who served as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas and counsel to President Lyndon B. Johnson. He was best known for overseeing the lawsuit to desegregate the Dallas Independent School District. > Sanders was born in Dallas, Texas to H.B. Sanders, and the former May Elizabeth Forrester. "Barefoot" was the maiden name o... > **[Kenesaw Mountain Landis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenesaw_Mountain_Landis)** > > Kenesaw Mountain Landis (/ˈkɛnɪsɔː ˈmaʊntɪn ˈlændɪs/; November 20, 1866 – November 25, 1944) was an American jurist who served as a United States federal judge from 1905 to 1922 and the first Commissioner of Baseball from 1920 until his death. He is remembered for his handling of the Black Sox Scandal, in which he expelled eight members of the Chicago White Sox from organized baseball for conspiring to lose the 1919 World Series and repeatedly refused their reinstatement requests. His firm act ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2010, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-given-name-cotton/555929/27 "2010-10-05T22:50:48Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > Love those strange old names. I was surprised when I discovered that [Learned Hand](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learned_Hand) wasn’t just a fictional wise judge used in hypotheticals, but an actual historial figure. > > Another one I first heard in **America: The Book** was George Washington’s nephew, [Bushrod Washington](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushrod_Washington). Whenever I hear a name like “Learned” or “Bushrod”, I wonder: what did their friends call them when they were growing up? “Buzzy” and “Dink”. ---
**Author:** ![Teacake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Teacake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teacake)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-given-name-cotton/555929/28 "2010-10-06T18:13:44Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > [Cotton - Name Meaning, What does Cotton mean?](http://www.thinkbabynames.com/meaning/1/Cotton) > > > [@](#): > > > > The boy’s name Cotton \c(ot)-ton. Plant name. May originally have been an occupational name from England, though the cotton plant, requiring a warm climate, was never a big source of industry in Britain. Lancashire would like a word with the ignorant fools at that website, having had a cotton industry since the mid sixteenth century. > [@Chimera](#): > > Rayon, of course, is a girl’s name. Actually, until this summer I taught a boy called Rayon. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-given-name-cotton/555929/29 "2010-10-06T18:16:32Z")
> [@Teacake](#): > > Lancashire would like a word with the ignorant fools at that website, having had a cotton industry since the mid sixteenth century. I think they meant an industry growing cotton, not processing it. ---
**Author:** ![Teacake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Teacake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teacake)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-given-name-cotton/555929/30 "2010-10-06T18:20:25Z")
Whatever they meant, it was a pretty foolish remark. If you’ve got 250,000 people employed in the cotton industry and (an infinitesimally smaller number of) people getting incredibly rich from it, where the plants grew isn’t that relevant to whether people are going to name their kids after it. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-given-name-cotton/555929/31 "2010-10-06T18:53:56Z")
> [@Teacake](#): > > Whatever they meant, it was a pretty foolish remark. If you’ve got 250,000 people employed in the cotton industry and (an infinitesimally smaller number of) people getting incredibly rich from it, where the plants grew isn’t that relevant to whether people are going to name their kids after it. Processing cotton is a textile industry. I think those folks would name their kids “Tex”. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-given-name-cotton/555929/32 "2010-10-06T22:57:34Z")
> [@mangeorge](#): > > > [@Teacake](#): > > > > Whatever they meant, it was a pretty foolish remark. If you’ve got 250,000 people employed in the cotton industry and (an infinitesimally smaller number of) people getting incredibly rich from it, where the plants grew isn’t that relevant to whether people are going to name their kids after it. > > Processing cotton is a textile industry. I think those folks would name their kids “Tex”. Unless they used a spinning Jenny. Then they could name their kids “Jenny.” ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-given-name-cotton/555929/33 "2010-10-06T23:04:43Z")
> [@Teacake](#): > > > [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > > > [Cotton - Name Meaning, What does Cotton mean?](http://www.thinkbabynames.com/meaning/1/Cotton) > > Lancashire would like a word with the ignorant fools at that website, having had a cotton industry since the mid sixteenth century. I’d be surprised if there was a “cotton industry” in Lancashire as early as the mid sixteenth century. Textile industry, OK. But “cotton”–no way. ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-given-name-cotton/555929/34 "2010-10-06T23:58:46Z")
Living in the southeast US, I know a couple of guys called Cotton. Both are nicknames. Both have very blonde hair. Both have told me that when they were little, their hair was white-blonde, like cotton. Voila! Nickname. For the given name, it’s likely a family surname on the maternal side somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-given-name-cotton/555929/35 "2010-10-07T00:39:30Z")
> [@missred](#): > > Living in the southeast US, I know a couple of guys called Cotton. > > Both are nicknames. Both have very blonde hair. Both have told me that when they were little, their hair was white-blonde, like cotton. Voila! Nickname. > > For the given name, it’s likely a family surname on the maternal side somewhere. How about their eyes? It could be relavant to this [related](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=273252&highlight=cotton+eyed) thread. Either of them named “Joe”? That would be too cool. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2010, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-given-name-cotton/555929/36 "2010-10-08T00:06:07Z")
> [@mangeorge](#): > > > [@missred](#): > > > > Living in the southeast US, I know a couple of guys called Cotton. > > > > Both are nicknames. Both have very blonde hair. Both have told me that when they were little, their hair was white-blonde, like cotton. Voila! Nickname. > > > > For the given name, it’s likely a family surname on the maternal side somewhere. > > How about their eyes? It could be relavant to this [related](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=273252&highlight=cotton+eyed) thread. > Either of them named “Joe”? That would be too cool. 🆒 Both blue eyed. One is named Robert and one James. Didn’t get to call either Cotton-eyed Joe. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2010, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-given-name-cotton/555929/37 "2010-10-08T00:27:41Z")
> [@missred](#): > > > [@mangeorge](#): > > > > How about their eyes? It could be relavant to this [related](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=273252&highlight=cotton+eyed) thread. > > Either of them named “Joe”? That would be too cool. 🆒 > > Both blue eyed. One is named Robert and one James. Didn’t get to call either Cotton-eyed Joe. 😛 Dang! ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2010, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-given-name-cotton/555929/38 "2010-10-08T15:48:07Z")
Any Dopers hear of the famous [Jerry Cotton](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Cotton)? In English, his name sounds … cool, gangsterish/ G-man action type. Until some spoil-sports point out that it translates as … Jeremias Baumwolle. Which sounds dumb. ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2010, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-given-name-cotton/555929/39 "2010-10-08T18:21:08Z")
To add to the FBI-agent Jerry Cotton: > [@from German wikipedia](#): > > Ursprünglich hatte Kaufmann mit seinem ersten Roman die zur damaligen Zeit kursierenden und von ihm geringgeschätzten amerikanischen Krimis persiflieren wollen. Deshalb hatte er sich mit „Cotton“ (= Baumwolle) einen wenig heldenhaft klingenden Namen für die Hauptfigur ausgedacht. > > **Originally, Kaufmann [the author] wanted to satirize with his first novel the then-current and, in his opinion, lowly/ trashy, American crime novels. That’s why he choose the less-than-heroic-sounding name “Cotton” for his main hero.** ---
**Author:** ![Teacake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Teacake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teacake)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2010, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-given-name-cotton/555929/40 "2010-10-08T19:52:50Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > > [@Teacake](#): > > > > Lancashire would like a word with the ignorant fools at that website, having had a cotton industry since the mid sixteenth century. > > I’d be surprised if there was a “cotton industry” in Lancashire as early as the mid sixteenth century. Textile industry, OK. But “cotton”–no way. OK, the earliest internet cite I can find is mid seventeenth - 1641, to be precise (for Bolton, if anyone’s interested). If I can be bothered I’ll dig out my old books and find the bit about fustian and the clamouring wool traders a century earlier - as if a hundred years makes any difference. It’s still a ridiculous example of ignorance for them to claim that cotton was “never a big source of industry in Britain”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-given-name-cotton/555929.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-given-name-cotton/555929.md?page=3)