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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 kūper a derivative of kūp ‘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 North America the English surname has absorbed some cases of like-sounding cognates from other languages for example Dutch Kuiper . Americanized form of Jewish (Ashkenazic) Kupfer and Kupper (see Kuper ). Dutch: occupational name for a buyer or merchant Middle Dutch coper.
Source: Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022