Last name: Cook

This distinguished surname, with forty entries in the "Dictionary of National Biography", and having no less than fifty Coats of Arms, is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is an occupational name for a cook, seller of cooked meats, or the keeper of an eating house. The derivation is from the Olde English pre 7th Century "coc", ultimately from the Latin "cocus", cook, and the surname has a particularly early first recording (see below). It also has the distinction of being recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, when one Galter Coc was noted in Essex. The surname is also widespread in early Scottish records. Richard Cocus held lands in Berwick after 1147, and Raginaldus the Cook witnessed the gift of the church of Cragyn in Kyle to the Abbey of Paisley, circa 1177. One Henry Coke, and a Ralph le Cook were recorded in Somerset and Sussex in 1279 and 1296 respectively. Notable bearers of the name were Sir Thomas Cooke, sheriff of London, 1453, and Lord Mayor of London, 1462, and Sir George Cooke who commanded the first division of guards at the Battle of Waterloo, 1815. Garret Cooke, aged 20 yrs., who embarked from London on the "Primrose" bound for Virginia in July 1635 was one of the earliest recorded namebearers to settle in America. The Coat of Arms most associated with the name is a gold shield with a red chevron between two lions passant guardant. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Aelfsige thene Coc, which was dated circa 950, in the "Anglo-Saxon Wills Records", during the reign of Edred the Saxon, Ruler of England, 946 - 955. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

Visitor Comments

Claryce Cook
Of note also is Captain James Cook who charted the East Coast of Australia in 1770.

Nick Wood
The renowned explorer, Captain James Cook, though born in England, was son of a Scottish farm labourer.

Tony Cook
A scotsman with an anglosaxon name none the less.

Nick Wood
Tony, that is because the south-east of Scotland was part of the Anglian kingdom of Northumbria for centuries, which is why the various peoples of that part of Scotland have spoken English (Lowland Scots version) as their first language ever since.

Angus Cook
I don't know where to begin with that particular oversimplification of British history… Anyway, families and surnames could be very mobile throughout the medieval and early modern periods, so the English Cooks could have moved north at any point. Then again, because the surname is simply a occupational one, perhaps the more simple explanation is that the Scots had cooks too? It is a short step from Angus 'the cook' to Angus Cook.

Tony Cook.
Why is it that so many men with the surname Cook end up like me with the forename 'Tony' or Antony?. There are many men named 'Tony Cook' who crop up in entertainment, sport and television.