COCKING
Cocking is a surname of English origin that can be traced back to the oldest records of the British Isles. Its earliest forms appear in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Cochinges and in the Pipe Rolls of Warwickshire in 1193 under the spelling William Cokein. These documents show that the name was already in use during the reign of King Richard the Lionheart.
The surname is derived from the Old English word cocc, meaning a rooster or male bird. It appears to have originally served as a nickname for a person whose appearance or behaviour reminded observers of a rooster. Over time the nickname was adopted as a family name and passed down from one generation to the next.
One recognised explanation is that Cocking is a locational name. It refers to the village of Cocking in Sussex, whose placename is documented in the Domesday Book as Cochinges. The place name itself is thought to originate from the Old English personal name Cocca combined with the suffix -ing, which means “people of”. Consequently, the meaning of the name is “the place where Cocca’s people lived”.
Another possible origin comes from Old French. In the 13th‑century French poem known as “The Land of Cockaign” the term appears as coquaigne or in Middle English as cokaygne, referring to an imaginary country of excess and leisure. The Latin root coquere – to cook – has been linked by some scholars to the idea of a “land of cakes”. While this theory offers an intriguing poetic image, it remains a hypothesis rather than a confirmed etymology.
Early records in England provide examples of the surname in regional contexts: Hawisa de Cokaingne from Yorkshire in 1219, William Coccing of Leicester in 1266, and William Cocking of Sussex in 1327. Variants that have appeared in historical documents include Cockings and Cockayne.
In contemporary times, individuals with the surname Cocking are found throughout the globe; however, it remains more commonly associated with the United Kingdom, where it preserves its English heritage and linguistic roots.
Typical given names associated with the Cocking surname
Male
- Andrew
- Christopher
- David
- Ian
- Jason
- John
- Michael
- Paul
- Peter
- Robert
- Thomas
- Timothy
- William
Female
- Deborah
- Gillian
- Helen
- Joanne
- Josephine
- Julie
- Laura
- Margaret
- Mary
- Michelle
- 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 Cocking in...
Braille
⠉⠕⠉⠅⠊⠝⠛
Morse
-.-.----.-.-.-..-.--.
Semaphore
There are approximately 1,805 people named Cocking in the UK. That makes it roughly the 4,586th most common surname in Britain. Around 28 in a million people in Britain are named Cocking.
Surname type: Location or geographical feature
Origin: English
Region of origin: British Isles
Country of origin: England
Religion of origin: Christian
Language of origin: English
Famous people named Cocking
- Edward Cocking - Botanist
- John Cocking - Football player
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.