This surname is derived from the name of an ancestor. 'the son of Jacob,' from nick. Cob or Cop; v. Coppin.

Cobbus Faber, 10 Henry II, Pipe Roll.

Richard Cobbe, Cambridgeshire, 1279. Hundred Rolls.

Robert Cobbe, Oxfordshire, ibid.

Thomas Cobson, 1379: Poll Tax of Yorkshire.

1675. Married — William Cobson and Jane Pritchett: St. James, Clerkenwell.

With Copson for Cobson, compare Hopkins for Hobkins.

1651. Baptised — Elizabeth, d. Emanuell Cobson: St. James, Clerkenwell.

1665-6. Buried — Amey Cobb, widow: St. Dionis Backchurch.

1788. Married — George Cobb and Frances Letchford: St. George, Hanover Square.

John Cob in Ardoch appears as witness in 1479 (REB., I, 203), and in 1508 there is mention of land of Malcolm Cob in Brechin (ibid., II, 160). John Cobb, citiner of Brechin in 1629 and thirteen more of the name appear in the Brechin Commissariot Record. Some individual of this name gave name to Cobbisland in Brechin, in record in 1528 (REB., II, 181), and a family of the name contributed to the expense of building the bellhouse at Novar in 1773 (Jervise, Land of the Lindsays, 2. ed., p. 133). Bardsley and Harrison say this name is a diminutive of Jacob, but there was also an Old English personal name Cobba.

There is perhaps no monosyllable in any language that has so many distinct meanings as cob. It may be thought curious to enumerate them. As a VERB, it signifies, 1, to strike; 2, to pull the ear or hair; 3, to throw; and 4, to outdo. As a noun, it stands for-5, a seed-basket; 6, the material of mud walls; 7, a hay-stack of small dimensions; 8, clover seed; 9, an Hiberno-Spanish coin; 10, a lump or piece; 11, a sea-gull; 12, the fish called the miller's thumb; 13, a harbour, as the Cobb of Lyme-Regis; 14, a young herring; 15, a leader or chief; 16, a wealthy or influential person; 17, a small horse; 18, a spider (whence cob-web); 19, the bird called a shoveller. It has also many compounds, as-cob-castle, a prison; cob-coals, large pit-coals; cob-irons, andirons; cob-joe, a nut at the end of a string; cob-key, a bastinado used among sailors; cob-loaf, a loaf of peculiar form; cob-nut, a well known dessert fruit-also a game played with it; cob-poke, a bag earned by gleaners; cob-stones, large stones; cob-swan, a very large swan; cob-wall, a wall composed of clay and straw. The heralds in devising arms for the various families of Cobbe and Cobb, have as usual alluded to some of these objects; thus Cobb of Bedfordshire has fish (be they herrings or miller's thumbs), and shovellers in his coat; Cobb of Peterbridge, co. Norfolk, displays two swans (cob-swans) and a fish; another Cobb of Norfolk carries two teals (? shovellers) and one fish; while Cobb of Oxfordshire gives two sbovellers and a (cob-) fish. This however by the way. As to the surname, it may be derived either from-1, Cobb, a port or haven: we have besides the names Port and Harbour in our family nomenclature; 2, from the fish or the bird, in the same way that we have Pike, Salmon, Hawk, Sparrow; 3, a chief or leader: in Cheshire, to cob signifies to outdo or excel another in any effort; or 4, a wealthy or influential person, as in the following lines from Occleve: —

Local. A harbor; as the Cobb of Lyme—Regis, County Dorset, England.