This just in from SKC Clark. Comments invited.
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I noticed your website and thought I’d give you the etymology/history of the name “Copson”. A close family friend of mine from New Zealand is called Copson and a few years back he asked me to look into his name history.
I have not read all of your site’s theories on the origin of the name but I can discount one immediately. The name does not stem from the place name Copston Magna. Nor is the greatest concentration of Copsons in/near Coventry. The greatest concentration is actually further northeast.
I can also tell you that Copson is not of Scandinavian origin. The “Copi’s Farm” idea would have lead the name to be “Copby”.
The origin is this: “Copstán” in modern English often rendered “Copstone” from the Old English “Cop” or “Coppie”, meaning hill, and “stan” (pronounced “staan”) meaning stone. The word “cop” for hill can still be seen in Dutch and especially Frisian and Afrikaans where “koppie” is the preferred word for hill.
Therefore, to summarise, the name ‘Copson’ is derived from Anglo-Saxon (also called Old English) and was originally Copstán.
Hope this helps!