A surname derived from the occupation of 'cook,' in Latin documents cocus. A very common name in early Scots records. Richard the cook (cocus) held land in Berwick after 1147 (Kelso, 34) and Jocelin Cocus held land before 1178 (Neubotle, 156). Raginaldus the cook witnessed the gift of the church of Cragyn in Kyle to the Abbey of Paisley, a. 1177 (RMP., p. 232). John Coquis witnessed a charter by Eschina de Lundin in favor of Kelso Abbey, c. 1190 (Kelso, 147), and about the same period Hamone Cocus attested a charter by John, bishop of Dunkeld (Inchaffray p. 5). Radulphus Cocus witnessed resignation of the lands of Ingilbristoun in 1204 (Dryburgh, 163), and Walterus Cocus witnessed excambion of the lands of Dolays Mychel in 1232 (REM., p. 88), and Thomas quocus witnessed a charter by Eggou ruffus of lands to the Priory of May early in the thirteenth century (RPSA., p. 383). There was a family of this name in Fife as early as 1260, when John Cocus de Balcasky and John Cocus and Richard Cocus of Abircrumby witnessed a charter by John de Dundemore to the Priory of the Isle of May (May, 29). Walter the cook held land in Brechin in 1267 (REB., I, 5), and Richard Cook, janitor, witnessed a charter in favor of Dunfermline Abbey in 1274 (RD., 207)."Henricus dictus Koc, pistor" (baker), held a croft in Aberdeen in 1281 (REA., II, p. 279), and Roger Cocus de Inuerdouete witnessed a transaction between Serlo de Lascelis and the prior of St. Andrews in 1288 (RPSA., p. 346). Martin, son of Walter Cocus, held land in Irvine in 1323 (Irvine, I, p. 123), William Cuk was concerned in a dispute anent a doublet in 1398 (CRA., p. 371), John Cuke was burgess of Edinburgh in 1402 (Egidii, p. 39), James Kok resident in Newburgh, Fife in 1479 (LAC., 153), John Cuk a follower of the earl of Cassilis was respited for murder in 1526 (RSS., I, 3386), and George Cuick was merchant burgess of Glasgow in 1645 (Inquis., 3031). Ceuk 1674, Coowk 1686, Cowk 1492, Cuch 1231, Cuik 1566, Cuyk 1540, Cuyke 1519, Cwik 1554, Kewk 1504, Kuyk 1394, and Cwke, Cwyk, Cwyke.

(2) In the eighteenth century the Cooks of Arran were Maccook, which see. The popular ex planation is that English 'cook' was borrowed into Gaelic as cug, so Iain a' Cug is 'John son of Cook.' Neil Cuke, a follower of Donald Gorme of Sleat, had a remission in 1541 for his share in laying waste Trouterness in Skye and Kinlochew in Ross (RSS., II, 3943).

(Anglo-Latin) Food-Preparer [Middle English coke, cooke, Old English cóc, Latin coqu-us, a cook]

(English) One who prepared food.

The occupation. In Domesd. there are several tenants styled Cocus, and one, ' quidam Coquus Regis.' Coke is an archaic form of the name. The Lond. Direct, has more than 250 traders of this surname.

Cook: a very important functionary. His name enters into numerous combinations, as Badcock (Bartholomew le coq), Wilcox (Will le coq), Hancock (John le coq). Mr. Lower and Mr. Bardsley think “cock” is a diminutive only. But it is always found after a Christian name that is already in the diminutive, and I consider that it means “the cook.” Beside the French termination le Coq, whence Coxe, we have the English surname Cooke. But that cock and cox so frequently end names indicates that the Norman lords did not trust to having Englishmen in their kitchen to prepare their food. The name is sometimes spelled Cooke. We have also the names Cookson, Cookman, and Cokeman. The entry “Robert, fil. Coci” in the Hundred Rolls shows that some Cooks’ sons were so designated whose fathers had no recognized surnames. Also Kitchen and Kitchener.

Cook: enters into many combinations, as in Norman- French Le Coq, Badcock (Bartholomew the Cook), Hancock (John the Cook), Wilcox (William le Coq), etc.

Cook,Cooke. —Most frequent in the south - central counties of England and in the eastern coast counties from Lincoln to Kent (excluding Essex). Comparatively scarce in the north and in the south - west of England. The counties most characterised by the name are Beds, Cheshire, Gloucester, Kent, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, Notts, Oxfordshire, Shropshire, Suffolk, Surrey, and Worcestershire.

Cook is an occupational surname from the Old English word ‘coc’. Originally a cook might have been anything from a cook as we know it to a cooked-meat seller or even the keeper of an eating-house.

There are many variations on this surname from the obvious Cookson (which gives us Cuckson and Cuxon) to Cookes, Coke, and the more popular Cooke. Many commentators consider the final ‘e’ in Cooke as snobbish and affected. However, this is the spelling which is found in the fourteenth century from Piers Plowman, which refers to ‘Brewester, Batess, Bochers and Cookes’.

After the Norman Conquest a French variation appeared. This is Lequeux, which despite its exotic appearance means simply ‘cook’. It comes from the Old French word ‘queu’, meaning a ‘cook’, a ‘seller of cooked meats’, or an ‘eating- house keeper’. (The strikingly similar English word ‘queue’ does not, however, come from this source. It comes from the Old French word for a tail-le queue-which may have been the origin of Kew Gardens. Alternatively, the name Kew sometimes derives from a place name, a (now vanished) town near Boulogne.) Naturally, this good old English name for a vital activity abounds in ancient records. The earliest mention of the name comes over a century before the Domesday Book, in an Anglo-Saxon will dating from approximately 950, where one Aelfsige Se Coc is mentioned.

The explorations of Captain James Cook have left the name Cook all over the Pacific Ocean. The two most notable geographical features named after this famous navigator are the Cook Islands in the South Pacific and Cook Strait, New Zealand. Many other places are named after members of his crew, or even the days on which they were discovered (Christmas Island, for instance).

To be given a ‘Cook’s Tour’ of somewhere is to be shown round it, usually by a guide, and comes from the first great travel firm, Thomas Cook & Co, started in 1841.

The hat we today call a ‘bowler’ was introduced by one William Coke, a Norfolk huntsman, in 1850. Mr Coke asked his hatter, Mr Beaulieu of Nelson Square, London, to design him headgear more suitable than the then fashionable tall riding hat. The new hat became known as a bowler after the anglicisation of the designer’s name, though at the beginning it was also often referred to as a ‘Coke’.

The United Kingdom has 10 Cook-related towns-these range from Cookbury to Cookstown. Predictably the Pacific Ocean and Australia are full of Cooks including Cook Island, Mount Cooke, the Cook District of Canberra and a major reef in New Caledonia.

With about 102,000 namesakes Cook is the 53rd most popular surname in England and Wales. Were those with an ‘e’ at the end of the name added, the number and ranking would increase markedly. This variation is not common enough to be counted separately and neither version’s count is available for Scotland for the same reason. Cook(e) is notably popular in and around Bristol where an estimated one in about 425 families bears the name. In descending numerical order other strongholds of one spelling or the other are Teesside, Birmingham and Cardiff. Around the world Cooks and Cookes are most common in Canberra (one in 561 families), Auckland (one in 639) and Wellington (one in 660). In the United States there are an estimated 313,000 Cooks and 38,000 Cookes, in combination making this the country’s 43rd most popular surname.