Cook
An occupational surname for a cook or professional food preparer.
The #65 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 1,020 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Cook comes from the common occupational word for someone who prepared food. It ultimately goes back to Latin coquus, 'cook,' which passed into Old French and then into Middle English as cook, with older spellings such as Coke and Cocus also recorded. In some early records the name appears as a byname for a cook in a household, royal, or market setting.
History
The surname is very well attested in medieval England, and Lower notes that Domesday Book already includes people styled Cocus and Coquus Regis, 'the king’s cook.' Because cooking was a basic and important household trade, the name became widespread early and remained common across Britain. It later spread widely to North America and other English-speaking regions.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Lower observed that Cook was already common enough in London directories in the 19th century to appear in large numbers.
From the historical record
“Cornw. ii. 72. COOK. COOKE. The occupation. In Domesd. there are several tenants stjdcd 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. COOKES. Cook pluralized. COOKSON. One of the few instances of the addition of the…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom