Cotes is a surname of English origin. Notable people with the surname are as follows:

Ambrosio Cotes (c.1550–1603), Spanish composer Charles Cecil Cotes (1846–1898), British landowner and politician Everard Charles Cotes (1862–1944), British entomologist Francis Cotes (1726–1770), British painter George Cotes (death of birth unknown–1556), British Catholic bishop John Cotes, multiple people Leonard Cotes (fl. 1669-1701), British painter Merton Russell-Cotes (1835–1921), Mayor of Bournemouth, England Roger Cotes (1682–1716), British mathematician, colleague of Isaac Newton Samuel Cotes (1734–1818), British painter Thomas Cotes (death of birth unknown–1641), British printer