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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • English : from a reduced pet form of the personal name Jacob.
  • French : nickname for a good neighbor or amiable fellow worker, from Old French compain ‘companion’, ‘fellow’ (Late Latin companio ‘messmate’, genitive companionis, from con- ‘together’ + panis ‘bread’).
  • Possibly also Irish or Scottish : reduced form of McCoppin.

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