COOK

English Ancestral Names - Castle and Manor Houses - COOKS - The kitchen of our composite castle was just off the great hall. It was connected to the hall by two doors: one for entering and one for exiting. The kitchen itself was very large, as it might have a staff of a dozen or more men. It would have two very large fireplaces with cranes and spits large enough to broil a quarter of beef and a couple of porkers at the same time. The pigs would not weigh more than a hundred pounds each, and they would be almost split down the middle. The English of the period, and for centuries after, loved to serve pigs whole with the head in place and an apple held in the jaws.

This listing indicates a great many cooks in the kitchen, but over the ten or more generations of the naming period, the names of occupations were constantly changing, COOK would change to COOKSON and a generation later might be CUXON or even COKE. (4)

Family Names - The Castle and the Manor - Cook or Le Coq ⁽¹⁾ , 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 father had no recognized surnames. Also Kitchen and Kitchener. (3)

⁽¹⁾ Le Coq occurs at the time of the Conqueror, and wherever the termination does occur, it is conjoined to an abbreviated Christian name, as Willcox, Hancock, (John), Badcock (Bartholomew), Saundercock (Alexander), Simcox and Simcoe (Simon the Cook). Indeed, William Bitton, Bishop of Exeter, who died in 1037, in his will leaves a bequest "Symoni Coco"; and Richard de Gravesend, Bishop of London, who died in 103, makes a bequest to "Magistro Johano Coco.". Stephen le Cokke was Provost of Bristol in 1261, and James Cokkys Baliff in 1407. We can hardly doubt that Symon Coc would become Simcox, and James Cokkis be turned into Jacocks. Chaucer spells "Cook" as Cok. Le Coq is still a surname in Normandy and Brittany. In 1379 the is an entry Joannes Alcokson, which certainly looks as though John were the son of Allen the Cook. So also William Wilkocson, 1379, is William the son of Will the Cook. Ehrentraut's "Frisische Arch�ologie," points out that many Dutch surnames are trade-names, and that the article has fallen away, as Hinrek Kok. The numerous Koks found in Netherlands are descendants of cooks.

Var's: Coke, Cokeman, Cook, Cooke, Cookes, Cooksey, Cookman, Cookson, Coq, Coxe, Cuckson, Koks.

Researching:�� -� August N. Cook m. 1912� Newtown NSW -� Elsie M. C. Askew b.1891 Bega

����������������������� -� Frances Cook� m.1863 Casino NSW� - William Yabsley
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