Cohen (Hebrew: כֹּהֵן kōhēn', means: "A Priest") is a Jewish surname of biblical origins (see: Kohen). It is the most common Jewish surname, comparable to "Smith" in an English-language context.
Bearing the name indicates that the ancestors of a person so named were priests in the Temple of Jerusalem.
Being a Cohen also imposes some limitations, however; by Jewish religious law a Cohen may not marry a divorced woman (only a single woman or a widow) and may not marry someone who converted to Judaism.
An effort to trace whether or not people named "Cohen" actually have a common genetic origin has been undertaken in the specific DNA signature associated with the name known as the Cohen Modal Haplotype.
Cohen may refer to:
People
Cohen, the surname of many people:
Scientists
- Albert K. Cohen (1918), an American sociologist
- Bernard Cohen, Professor Emeritus of Physics at the University of Pittsburgh
- Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, a French physicist working at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, Nobel Prize Laureate in physics.
- David B. Cohen (1941-2004), an American psychology professor
- Emil Cohen (1842-1905), a German mineralogist (see also cohenite)
- Ernst Julius Cohen (1869-1944), a Dutch chemist
- Henri Cohen (1932), a French mathematician who specializes in number theory.
- Irvin S. Cohen, a mathematician
- Jack Cohen, British biologist and special effects consultant
- Julius Berend Cohen (1859-1935), an English chemist
- Leon Cohen, mathematician and developer of Cohen's class distribution function
- Marvin L. Cohen, a Canadian-born American condensed-matter physicist at the University of California, Berkeley
- Paul Joseph Cohen, (1934-2007), an American mathematician who proved the independence of the continuum hypothesis
- Samuel Cohen, a physicist who is known for inventing the W70 warhead, the "enhanced neutron weapon" or neutron bomb
- Simon Baron-Cohen, a renowned British psychologist and director of the Autism Research Centre at the University of Cambridge
- Stanley Cohen (born 1922), American Nobel Prize Laureate in Physiology and Medicine
- Stanley Norman Cohen (fl. 2000s), an American geneticist
- Yoseph Bar-Cohen, a physicist at the JPL who specializes in electroactive materials and ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation (NDE)
- Henry Cohen, Baron Cohen of Birkenhead British physician and lecturer, former president of the GMC and the Royal Society of Medicine. The Lord Cohen Medal for Gerontology is named after him.
Educators
- Andrew Cohen, (1955-) an American guru, spiritual teacher, founder of the magazine What Is Enlightenment?, author, and musician
- Benjamin Cohen, an American Professor
- I. Bernard Cohen, former professor of the history of science at Harvard University
- Brad Cohen, a motivational speaker and an award-winning teacher and author
- Damian Cohen, the former head of boarding and currently teaching at Woodside Priory School
- Eliot A. Cohen, a Professor of Strategic Studies at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University, and currently serving as Counselor to the U.S. State Department
- Gerald Cohen, the Chichele Professor of Social and Political Theory, All Souls College, Oxford
- Joanna Waley-Cohen, Professor of History at New York University, where she has taught since 1992
- Morris Cohen, (1911-2005) an emeritus Institute Professor of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Rabbi Henry Cohen - leader of the Galveston kehilla
- Reuben Cohen, a Canadian businessman, lawyer, and the third Chancellor of Dalhousie University
- Richard Cohen, a lecturer on conversion therapy
- Richard I. Cohen, a professor of Jewish History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
- Stanley Cohen (born c. 1940s), the Martin White Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics
- Stephen F. Cohen, a scholar of Russian studies in the USA
- William W. Cohen, a professor at the Machine Learning Department of Carnegie Mellon University
- Matthew Cohen, an English teacher at Knox Grammar School
Writers
- Abraham Cohen de Herrera, a Spanish born philosopher, kabbalist, and professor. Works written in 17th century Amsterdam.
- Albert Cohen, a Greek-born Jewish Swiss novelist who wrote in French
- Allen Cohen, editor of the San Francisco Oracle.
- Claudia Cohen, an American gossip columnist, socialite and television maven
- Elie Aron Cohen (1909-1993), doctor, Auschwitz survivor, and author
- Georg Morris Cohen Brandes, a Danish critic and scholar who had great influence on Scandinavian literature from the 1870s through the turn of the 20th century
- Hermann Cohen, a German philosopher, one of the founders of the Marburg School of Neo-Kantianism
- Matt Cohen (1942-1999, known by the pseudonym Teddy Jam), a Canadian writer
- Nick Cohen, a British journalist, author, and political commentator
- Randy Cohen, an American writer and humorist best known as the author of The Ethicist column in The New York Times Magazine
- Octavus Roy Cohen (1891-1959), writer and author
- Richard Cohen, syndicated columnist for the Washington Post
- Richard E. Cohen, the congressional correspondent for a political magazine in the United States
- Robert Cohen, a Canadian comedy writer
Musicians
- Allen Cohen, an American composer
- Avishai Cohen, an Israeli jazz bassist, composer and arranger
- Ellen Naomi Cohen, an American singer known as "Mama" Cass
- Harriet Cohen, a British pianist
- Jim Cohen, an American pedal steel guitarist
- Judy Kay Cohen, (1952-), an American singer known as Juice Newton
- Leonard Cohen, Canadian singer-songwriter, also best-selling author of Beautiful Losers and other novels
- Marc Cohn, American singer-songwriter
- Paul Cohen, American saxophonist
- Samuel Cohen, composer of Hatikvah
- Sander Cohen, a fictional musician in the video game BioShock
- Shavit Cohen, guitar player in Dublin
- Stuart David Cohen (1941-1982), an American singer-songwriter known as David Blue
- Yaron Cohen (now Sharon Cohen), Israeli singer known as Dana International
- Franklin Cohen, Principal Clarinetist of the Cleveland Orchestra as of February 2008
Artists
- Boris Cohen, Russian painter
- Jonah Cohen, an acclaimed graphic designer
- Ryosuke Cohen, an internationally known mail artist (whose surname is a stylistic spelling of Japanese Kōen and does not derive from the Hebrew name)
- Leon Cohen - painted from Belgrade
- Lynne Cohen, a professional fine art photographer
- Gil Cohen, a local Irish artist
Technologists
- Bram Cohen, an American computer programmer, best known as the author of the peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing program and protocol BitTorrent
Entertainment industry people
- Arthur Cohn, Swiss film producer
- Assi Cohen, an Israeli comedian and actor
- Bradford Cohen, a candidate on The Apprentice 2 television show
- Bruce Cohen, a film producer
- David X. Cohen, a writer and producer for television
- Emil Cohen (1911-2000), Jewish comedian and singer, in the tradition of Myron Cohen
- Emma Cohen, a Spanish actress whose real name is Emmanuela Beltran Rahola
- Herman Cohen, a producer of B-movies during the 1950s, who helped to popularize the teen horror movie genre
- Ira Cohen, filmmaker, poet and photographer
- Jem Cohen, a filmmaker known for his blending of media formats and collaborations with music artists
- Jeff Cohen, his claim to fame is appearing as Chunk in the 1985 classic Steven Spielberg production The Goonies
- Joel H. Cohen, a writer for The Simpsons
- Myron Cohen (1902-1986), an American comedian and raconteur
- Rob Cohen, an American film director, producer and writer
- Sacha Baron Cohen, English comedian famous for the personae of Ali G, Borat, and Bruno
- Sidney M. Cohen, a Canadian television director and program creator
- The Coen Brothers, filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen
- Rodney Dangerfield was born Jacob Cohen
- Sid James, actor, was born Joel Solomon Cohen
Sports and Athletics
- Alan N. Cohen, the former co-owner of the Boston Celtics and the New Jersey Nets
- Andrew Cohen, Maltese international footballer
- Avi Cohen, a former Israeli footballer who was the first to play in England
- Ben Cohen, a rugby union footballer who plays wing for Northampton Saints and England
- Chris Cohen, an English footballer currently playing for Nottingham Forest.
- Eli Cohen, an Israeli football manager
- Gary Cohen, an American sportscaster, best known as a radio and television play-by-play announcer for the New York Mets
- Gary Cohen, a professional football player who joined Grimsby Town on a season-long loan deal from Scottish Second Division side Gretna
- George Cohen, the right back for England on the side which won the 1966 World Cup
- Harlan Cohen, an American volleyball coach
- Howard William Cohen (1918-1995), an American sportscaster known as Howard Cosell
- Jeff Cohen, an All-American college basketball player at William & Mary in 1960-61
- Liran Cohen, an Israeli footballer
- Ohad Cohen, an Israeli footballer
- Sasha Cohen, American figure skater
- Tamir Cohen, an Israeli footballer
- Tiffany Cohen, double gold champion in swimming at the 1984 Summer Olympics
- Zion Cohen, an Israeli footballer
Spies
- Eli Cohen, a celebrated Israeli spy who is recognized as one of the most successful spies of modern times
- Lona Cohen, an American member of the Communist Party USA who was recruited into Soviet espionage in 1939 by her husband
- Morris Cohen (1910-1995, also known as Peter Kroger), was a Soviet spy who helped pass Manhattan Project secrets to the USSR
Politicians
- Andrew Cohen, former Governor of Uganda
- Daniel Cohn-Bendit, a European politician who was a leader of the student protesters during the May 1968 riots in France
- David Cohen, an American politician, noted for his service in the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt
- David B. Cohen, an American politician, mayor of Newton, Massachusetts
- Erminie Cohen, a retired Canadian senator
- Harry Cohen, a Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom
- Jay M. Cohen, Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Science and Technology, USA
- Job Cohen, the mayor of Amsterdam
- Leon Cohen, a Serbian activist; current adviser of President of Serbia and one of the chief negotiators of Serbia in the Kosovo dispute
- Pierre Cohen, French polician, Mayor of Toulouse [1]
- Ran Cohen, an Israeli politician and Knesset member of the Meretz-Yachad party
- Shaughnessy Cohen, a Canadian politician, who represented the riding of Windsor—St. Clair for the Liberal Party from 1993 to 1998
- Stanley Cohen (1927-2004), a British Labour politician
- Steve Cohen, a member of the United States House of Representatives for Tennessee's Ninth District
- William Cohen, an author and American politician from the U.S. state of Maine
Businesspeople
- Albert D. Cohen, a Canadian businessman who is the Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Gendis Incorporated
- Ben Cohen, a co-founder of Ben & Jerry's ice cream
- Benjamin Cohen, a British internet entrepreneur and journalist
- Ben Cohen, one-time owner of Baltimore's WJZ-TV
- Evan Montvel Cohen, a co-founder and the first chairman of Air America Radio
- Henry Cohen, the director of Föhrenwald, the third largest Displaced Persons camp in the American sector of post-WWII Germany
- Jack Cohen (1898-1979), British businessman
- Jay Cohen, the former CEO of World Sports Exchange (WSEX), an online gambling company
- Joshua Lionel Cowen b. Joshua Lionel Cohen, toy train magnate
- Lyor Cohen, CEO of Warner Music Group
- Stephen M. Cohen, owner of the Internet domain name Sex.com
- Steven A. Cohen, a billionaire hedge fund investor and founder of SAC Capital Partners
- Arie Cohen, CEO of CardioNet, best performing IPO in 2008 YTD
Lawyers
- Arthur Cohen, an English barrister and king's counsel
- Felix S. Cohen (1907-1953), a lawyer and legal scholar who developed an expertise in law concerning natural resources, statehood and economic development for American territories, Indian affairs, and immigration and minority problems
- Roy Cohn, an American lawyer who came to prominence during the investigations by Senator Joseph McCarthy into alleged Communism in the U.S. government
- Jerome A. Cohen, a professor of law at New York University School of Law and an expert in Chinese law
- Jonathan Cohen, QC, Deputy High Court Judge (Family Division), old Etonian, grandson of Lionel Leonard Cohen
- Lionel Leonard Cohen, Law Lord, one of "the three wise men"
- Todd Cohen, an active criminal defense attorney in Dundee, Illinois
Fictional people
- Aina Cohen, a fictional character, xueta, Majorcan converse Jew woman, and poet, of "Mort de dama” (The death of a lady) 1931, novel of Llorenç Villalonga.
- Brian Cohen, the main character in Monty Python's "Life of Brian", son of "Naughtius Maximus"
- Cohen the Barbarian, a fictional character in Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels
- Jenna Cohen, a fictional character in the Aliens universe.
- Kirsten Cohen, a fictional character on the FOX television series The OC
- Mark Cohen, a fictional character in the play Rent.
- Maximillian Cohen, a fictional character in Pi (film).
- Sandy Cohen, a fictional character on the FOX television series The O.C.
- Seth Cohen, a fictional character on FOX television series The O.C.
- Sander Cohen, a fictional character from the video game BioShock
People needing to be sorted
- Henry Cohen
- J. M. Cohen, a prolific translator (into English) of European literature
- Jeff Cohen (media critic), the founder of Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting, a media watchdog group in the US
- John Cohen, a founding member of the New Lost City Ramblers as well as a photographer and filmmaker
- Kalman J. Cohen, an American economist
- Liepmann Cohen (c. 1630-1714, also known as Leffmann Behrends), was the German financial agent of the dukes and princes of Hanover
- Mickey Cohen, a gangster in 1940s and 1950s
- Morris Cohen (adventurer), (1887-1970, also known as "Two-Gun"), a British-born adventurer who became a bodyguard for Sun Yat-sen
- Morris Raphael Cohen, (1880-1947), an American Jewish philosopher who united pragmatism with logical positivism and linguistic analysis
- Richard Cohen, husband of Paula Zahn
- Stav Cohen, game designer in Dublin
See also
External links
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