Richard Cotton may refer to:
*Richard Lynch Cotton (1794–1880), British vicar and academic administrator
*Sir Richard Cotton (in or before 1497–1556), courtier in the court of Henry VIII of England
*Richard Cotton (geneticist) (1940–2015), Australian medical researcher
*Richard Cotton (politician), Western Australian politician and educator
*Rick Cotton, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
{{hndis, Cotton, Richard