The Copage Surname in France
It is sometimes thought that the Copage surname may have French origins. After all, the suffix –age is very common in French as in such words as “fromage” , “potage”, “dommage”, “étage”, “ménage”, “dommage” and so on. The suffix is also used to form French nouns from verbs (equivalent to gerunds in English) such as “lavage”, "affichage", "apprentissage".
In fact there are many records of the surname “Copage” occurring in France from the seventeenth century onwards, particularly in the departments of Aube, Somme and Indre. Other surnames with similar spellings include Capage, Cabage, Coubage, Coupage and Capaje. These names can often be associated with actual French words:
Coupage = cutting
Coubage = bending
Capage = covering
Copage = coping
Capaje = a medieval cloak
Of particular interest is the marriage in Spitalfields, London in 1603 between a Phillippe Copage and Marie Danzy, both of whom were French protestants. It is highly likely that these two were part of the mass exodus of Huguenots who fled France for England in the decades following the St Bartolemews massacre in 1572.
However, there are numerous instances of Copages in England in the sixteenth century which pre-date this wedding. Furthermore the Huguenots tended to settled in London or South East England, particularly Kent.
It can therefore be safely assumed that the Copages of Warwickshire do not have French antecedents although it is possible that some of the Copages recorded in London in the seventeenth century might have descended from Phillippe and Marie Copage (not that they are mentioned in any records of christenings).
Anthoine Copage baptised January 1671 Troyes, Aube (parents: Simon Copage & Nicole Lorraine)