English and French: nickname from Middle English, Old French
co(u)sin, cusin (Latin consobrinus), which in the
Middle Ages, as in Shakespearean English, had the general meaning
‘relative’, ‘kinsman’. The surname would thus have denoted a person
related in some way to a prominent figure in the neighborhood. In some
cases it may also have been a nickname for someone who used the term
‘cousin’ frequently as a familiar term of address. The old slang word
cozen ‘cheat’, perhaps derives from the medieval confidence
trickster’s use of the word cousin as a term of address to
invoke a spurious familiarity. The patronymics constitute the most
frequent forms of this name.
Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
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