Coale

Coale is a surname. The most prominently documented figure with this name is Ansley J. Coale (1917–2002), an American demographer who served as a professor at Princeton University and directed its Office of Population Research. Coale's work helped shape modern demographic theory and practice, particularly in the study of fertility and population aging. In collaboration with Paula Demeny, Coale developed the Coale-Demeny model life tables in 1966, a widely used set of model life tables that provide estimates of age-specific fertility and mortality patterns for populations with incomplete data. The model has been influential in demographic analysis, population projections, and public policy research, and it remains a reference in population studies. The surname Coale, while primarily associated with this scholarly contribution, is found in various contexts but does not have a widely documented origin or meaning beyond its use as a family name.