Links I followed... http://www.sussexpast.co.uk/ http://www.homeusers.prestel.co.uk/aspen/sussex/ Here is part of an email I received from Richard Coates of Sussex, England, as mentioned yesterday. Professor Coates is a linguistics and place-names-origins expert. Here's his website http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/users/richardc/ He has several books published on the subject of names and languages. In reply to my note he replied as follows... sherri in New Orleans. Coats Castle is Sussex is actually Coates > Castle! > > It is real, and sits near the village of Fittleworth, but I know nothing > > about its history except that it seems to have been owned by the Russell > > family in 1912. > > > > As for your and my family name, it comes in several guises: Coats, Coates, > > Cotes. It is from the Middle English word meaning `cottages', which > appears in > > some minor place-names and is sometimes used as the name of a whole > village or > > hamlet, as in the Sussex case. Since my father's family, if you trace far > > enough back, come from Staffordshire, I suppose the source of my name is > the > > village now spelt Cotes, just south-west of Stoke on Trent; but I don't > know > > for sure. I am myself from Grimsby, Lincolnshire. Despite appearances, and > to > > my regret, I seem to have nothing to do with the Grimsby suburb of Great > > Coates! Your name will probably turn out to be from one of these places. > > There are places called Coates (or one of the other spellings) in Sussex, > > Lincolnshire, Staffordshire, Gloucestershire, Cambridgeshire, Westmorland > and > > Leicestershire. So unless you have some idea where your ancestors hail > from, > > you may find yourself with a lot of searching still to do. > > > > Best wishes for your researches, > > > > Yours sincerely > > > > Richard Coates