ADCOCK
Adcock is a surname of English origin, commonly found throughout the British Isles and among descendants of British emigrants worldwide. The name is established as a patronymic derived from the medieval personal name Adam, a name borne in the Old Testament and widely used in England from the earliest medieval period. The suffix -cock, a diminutive ending commonplace in Middle English, was applied to denote a smaller or younger person, rendering Adcock as interpreted either "little Adam" or "son of Adam".
Early documentary evidence of the surname dates to the early thirteenth century. The first recorded spelling appears as Richard Hadecoc in the 1226 Register of the Freemen of Leicester. Subsequent mentions include Adecok in the 1246 Assize Court Rolls of Lancashire; Robert Adekok, 1275, in the Subsidy Rolls of Worcestershire; and John Atkoc, 1327, in the Subsidy Rolls of Staffordshire. These records confirm that the surname was in active use during the reign of King Henry III.
The name has several orthographic variants that have appeared in historical records and modern usage. These include Adcocks, Atcock, Ahdcock, Adcox, Adcop, Aydcock, Aydcox, and Aydcop. The variant Adcox is frequently cited in colonial American documents and is thought by some scholars to have been introduced by Scots‑Irish settlers in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Spelling differences reflect the lack of standardised orthography in medieval and early modern England.
Notable early marriages involving the surname are recorded in London church registers. On 5 December 1591, William Adcocke married Joane Attkinsone at St. Olave’s, Hart Street, and on 20 December 1593, Richard Adcock married Katheren Frie at St. Giles’, Cripplegate. These entries illustrate the surname’s presence in the capital during the late Tudor period.
A coat of arms has been officially granted to an Adcock family. The escutcheon is described as blue (azure) with a silver saltire charged with nine silver pellets. The crest consists of a silver fox’s head issuing. Such heraldic bearings were typically awarded to families of distinction during the early modern era.
In contemporary statistics, the surname is among the less common names in England, ranking 571st in popularity. While it remains most frequently found in England, it has spread to other parts of the United Kingdom—particularly Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland—as well as to former colonies and former British Empire territories such as the United States, Australia, Canada and South Africa. In these nations, the Adcock surname is generally located in urban centres and at times among Hispanic communities in North America, reflecting broader migratory patterns.
There is also reference to a habitational origin for the surname, linking it to English place names derived from Old Scandinavian and Old English elements meaning “oak homestead” or “oak settlement.” However, detailed evidence supporting this habitational hypothesis is limited, and it is not considered a definitive explanation of the name’s origin.
In 2024, an individual of note within the Adcock lineage reported that a great or great‑great grandfather had adopted the surname spelling Addcox, possibly reflecting a family decision to adapt the name for social or professional reasons. This contemporary change illustrates the ongoing evolution of surname spellings within families, even when the core identity of the name remains unchanged.
Typical given names associated with the Adcock surname
Male
- David
- James
- John
- Mark
- Michael
- Neil
- Paul
- Peter
- Robert
- Stephen
Female
- Christine
- Claire
- Elizabeth
- Joanne
- Julie
- Karen
- Margaret
- Mary
- Nicola
- Patricia
- Sarah
- Susan
Similar and related surnames
Related and similar names are generated algorithmically based on the spelling, and may not necessarily share an etymology.
How to communicate the surname Adcock in...
Braille
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Morse
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Semaphore
There are approximately 4,909 people named Adcock in the UK. That makes it roughly the 1,922nd most common surname in Britain. Around 75 in a million people in Britain are named Adcock.
Surname type: Diminutive
Origin: English
Region of origin: British Isles
Country of origin: England
Religion of origin: Christian
Language of origin: English
Famous people named Adcock
- Chris Adcock - Badminton player
- Gabby Adcock - Badminton player
- Tony Adcock - Football player
- Robert Adcock - Badminton player
- Hugh Adcock - Football player (1903 to 1975)
- Alfred Adcock - Cricketer (1916 to 2005)
- Frank Adcock - Historian, cryptographer (1886 to 1968)
- Paul Adcock - Football player
- Arthur St John Adcock - Novelist and poet (1864 to 1930)
- Frances Adcock - Australian swimmer, Olympic athlete
- Charles Adcock - Football player (1923 to 1998)
Names and descriptions courtesy of Wikipedia, and may contain errors. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of every famous person with this name.