The cocke Surname
cocke Name Meaning and History
- nickname from Middle English cok ‘cock’, ‘male bird or fowl’ (Old English cocc), given for a variety of possible reasons. Applied to a young lad who strutted proudly like a cock, it soon became a generic term for a youth and was attached with hypocoristic force to the short forms of many medieval personal names (e.g. Alcock, Hancock, Hiscock, Mycock). The nickname may also have referred to a natural leader, or an early riser, or a lusty or aggressive individual. The surname may also occasionally derive from a picture of a rooster used as a house sign.
- from the Old English personal name Cocca, derived from the word given in 1 above or from the homonymous cocc ‘hillock’, ‘clump’, ‘lump’, and so perhaps denoting a fat and awkward man. This name is not independently attested, but appears to lie behind a number of place names and (probably) the medieval personal name Cock, which was still in use in the late 13th century.
Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
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