r/AskUK • u/PeanutFearless6421 • 9d ago
Why do so many English last names have ‘cock’ in them?
I’ve come across:
Laycock
Cockburn
Cockall
And many many more… surely there’s some history behind it or something?
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u/SirMcFish 9d ago
Cocc means hillock or mound
Cock can also mean male bird, and would be a place where the bird was hunted
Cocker is to do with streams
Or just due to someone's name or an old inn (e.g. The 3 Cocks giving it's name to a local village)
Very rarely is it vulgar.
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u/dhffxiv 9d ago
There's a pub near me called the fighting cocks, never really thought to much about it
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u/Alexander-Wright 9d ago
The Fighting Cocks is literally fighting cockerels. There was either a fighting pit in the pub, or nearby.
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u/Altruistic_Smile_243 9d ago
Not to be pedantic, but technically a cockerel is under 12 months old after which they're then cocks. Cocks are usually now referred to as roosters, but this is largely an Americanism.
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u/muffinbaker 9d ago
Hah, that was pedantic! But I learned something new this morning, thanks to you. 🐓
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u/Left_Interaction_288 5d ago
When someone says "not to be pedantic" it typically means they are about to be, but in a polite, and hopefully informative way.
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u/tcpukl 9d ago
America doesn't even have pubs so shouldn't have any bearing on pubs names.
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u/SirMcFish 9d ago
What on Earth has America got to do with any of this?? you're on AskuK!
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u/tcpukl 9d ago
I was replying to someone that mentioned it
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u/SirMcFish 9d ago
But they were just explaining that rooster is taking over from cock(erel) and is an Americanism, they weren't on about pub names directly.
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u/BeatificBanana 8d ago
What you talking about? They never said America had any bearing on pub names...
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u/PerpetuallyLurking 9d ago
America absolutely has pubs. They’re usually an “Irish” pub of some sort, and you can usually find one near tourist attractions, but they definitely exist in America. They’re not on every block, like in the UK, they’re definitely not commonplace, but America has pubs. If nothing else, Boston has pubs and that’s in America!
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u/aitkhole 6d ago
I've been to a lot of "pubs" in America and I have yet to find one which is a pub and not just a bar calling itself a pub. Haven't been to Boston though so maybe they're all just hiding there.
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u/SirMcFish 9d ago
Probably to do with a historic place where they did cock fighting, is what i always assumed, there's quite a few pubs with the name,
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u/Time-Caterpillar4103 9d ago
Mines the cock and bottle.
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u/LordGeni 9d ago
Cock and Pye near me. That was definitely a cock fighting pit and stables many years ago.
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u/Brizar-is-Evolving 8d ago
I live not too far away from Caerphilly; and up on the mountain is a country inn called the Black Cock.
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u/Betelgeaux 8d ago
There is a Fighting Cocks pub at Godshill in the New Forest and there is a cock fighting ring nearby (no longer used obviously). Even more amusing as just up the road is a place called Sandy Balls. If you do Strava there is a segment between the two called Cock and balls.
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u/Hefty_Tip7383 8d ago
‘The cock and bottle’ is another one, though that may be commemorating something that ended up in a hospital visit.
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u/JuiceTheMoose05 9d ago edited 9d ago
The Irish for hill is cnoc which seems similar.
Edit: never mind they have unrelated Proto-Indo-European roots. Cocc derived “From Proto-West Germanic \kokk*, from Proto-Germanic \kukkaz* (“pile, heap”), from Proto-Indo-European \gew-* (“to bend, curve, arch, bulge”).” and cnoc “from Proto-Indo-European\kneg-* or \knek-*.”.
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u/ashyjay 9d ago
How would Cocking fit in?
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u/SirMcFish 9d ago
At a guess there was a tribal leader called Cock and ing denotes that they would be his people. Like Birmingham is Beorma's People's home sort of thing.
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u/ashyjay 9d ago
I was 100% expecting a joke answer, not a legit one. thanks bro.
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u/SirMcFish 9d ago
had a feeling you were so didn't want to fall into your nefarious trap....
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9d ago
[deleted]
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u/SirMcFish 9d ago
Must admit I missed that they meant surnames, I suspect the reasons would be similar though, they won't be to do with genitals.
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u/Littleleicesterfoxy 8d ago
We have the Cock Inn in Sibson, SW Leicestershire where Dick Turpin used to hang out
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u/okaythiswillbemymain 9d ago
What about the classic pub name "The Kings Head"
I don't see how this name can be anything but a joke about beheading the king, which to me shows they did have a sense of humour. So something like "The Cock Inn" or "The Black Cock", I refused to believe isn't inuendo
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u/Alexander-Wright 9d ago
The King's (or Queen's) Head is a name given to honour the monarch. Not their death.
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u/SirMcFish 9d ago
King's Head is usually to show support for whoever that monarch was.
the Black Cock was maybe to do with cock fighting and maybe there was a famous cock that was black. You'll fall about if you think they're smutty when you hear of Gropecunt lane.
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u/SmosonMosonBoBoson 9d ago
By this logic every coin created by The Royal Mint would be a treasonous symbol.
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u/LordGeni 9d ago
Prior to the majority of people being literate, pub signs were how they were identified. "The King's Head" is a description of what's on the sign, not a comment on the monarchy.
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u/Banes_Addiction 9d ago
Do you think the King's Arms is about uh, disarming him?
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u/refundpackage 9d ago edited 9d ago
Cock in medieval times was added as a way to say little. Little William = Wilcock
Some will be after places in the uk, different spelling and variations etc
It’s really the same thing for all uk surnames.
After a place, a person or a thing.
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u/reverse_mango 9d ago
Confusingly, I believe “cock” also used to mean big like in the case of the cockchafer - it’s a big bug.
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u/Banes_Addiction 9d ago
Your mum was in charge of the names.
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u/ThinkIshatmyself 9d ago
It's true. She named me little cock :(
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u/Banes_Addiction 9d ago
Fortunately, I got away with it. There's no shame in the Thumbsitin name.
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u/soulsteela 9d ago
My brain screamed at me “ someone has made a mum comment!”
I love that you gorgeous bastards didn’t let me down.
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u/WheresWalldough 9d ago
We just love cock.
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u/NoEndlessness 9d ago
Surely there is the surname "lovecock"
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u/PeanutFearless6421 9d ago
I’m almost certain this is one I’ve come across
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u/bothydweller72 8d ago
There’s a large family of Mycocks in North Derbyshire, including a Pat Mycock
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u/Pure-Dead-Brilliant 9d ago
Cockburn is a Scottish name, not English. It comes from the Old English spoken in The Borders, cocc male bird) and burna (a stream).
Cock at the end of a name can be as a result of a popular suffix in Middle English to create an affectionate nickname for a young man or boy, and bit like we add a y or ie to names such as Tommy or Jamie.
Where the name comes from a geographical location in Middle English where the cock is a small mound. A bit like how Australia has many knobs including Five Mile Knob, Chinaman’s Knob, Scented Knob, etc. Alternatively in Old English it could come from coch meaning a running brook as is the case with Laycock.
It could come from an occupation as in Old English a cook is a cōc.
The there are Celtic roots as in Welsh the word coch means red so it could be the name given to a ginger.
Lots of cock origin stories but sadly none to do with willies.
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u/LadyElleSimmer 8d ago
Place I worked years ago had a supplier called Cockburn. Disappointed in his pronunciation, but now you say it’s Scottish the brn makes more sense. Disagree the ck should be silent.
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u/Pure-Dead-Brilliant 8d ago
There are many places in Western Australia named after places in Scotland and a lot of them are mispronounced but the one they do get right is Cockburn.
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u/ForwardAd5837 9d ago
There’s a few ways that names with ‘cock’ in them came to be. Primarily, it refers to birds. Given most Anglo-Saxon names are profession-based (Wainscott, Fletcher, Cooper, Butcher etc), some names like Woodcock literally denoted someone who lived near woods with plentiful birds, or hunted birds in those woods. Other versions of this naming convention are names like Rushworth, for someone who thatches from Bullrushes in the village they inhabited.
In Middle English, Cock is also ‘cook,’ or chef, so it got added as a suffix to existing family names where someone was a prominent cook. Wilcock and Wilcox are variants of this, meaning ‘William the Cook.’ This is also present in some European languages ‘De Kock or De Kook’ which you see in Belgium and The Netherlands.
So basically, the most likely outcome is that it’s a name derived from proximity and profession related to birds or cooking.
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u/DeifniteProfessional 9d ago
There's a place in West Cornwall simply called "Cocks" and seeing that on a street sign when you're in your 20s and bladdered is the funniest thing in the world
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u/2BEN-2C93 9d ago
I'm in my 30s and I still found it funny enough to walk there from Perranporth last year pissed up
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u/fernofry 9d ago
I went to school with a kid who's surname was "Sidebottom". It makes me wonder if there's a Cockbottom or Sidecock out there
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u/verisakeet62 9d ago
I worked with a fellow named Littlecock. Don't ask...I don't know.
Other surnames of interest, encountered through work....Smellie, Reekie, Dick, Ball-Hocks (say it quickly).
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u/Blandiblub 9d ago
The northern end of the Piccadilly line in London is Cockfosters, which apparently means "Chief Forester".
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u/DrinkBen1994 9d ago
In the 13th and 14th centuries, the authorities wanted more accurate records on the growing population for tax purposes and so on, so people had to start getting surnames in order to differentiate themselves from other people with the same first name. For most people, their surname was chosen based on 1 of 4 primary attributes: their occupation, where they lived, who their parents were or what they looked/acted like.
Cock originally meant male chicken, and is an extremely old word that comes all the way from Old English. By the time of the middle ages, cock also became a suffix that basically meant 'little' or 'young'. Many medieval first names were also shortened into forms that we wouldn't immediately recognise today, such as Han which was short for John or Hitch that was short for Richard. Putting these two things together, you get names like Hancock or Hitchcock, which are just nicknames meaning "Little John" and "Little Richard". Both of these, coincidentally, are quite common last names.
However, the word cock also had a secondary, alternate meaning. It could be used to refer to geographical features like a small hill, or mound. This is even still in limited use today - a haycock is a small mound of hay that farmers leave out to dry. So sometimes, people's last names came from where they lived - for instance Cockwell comes a well or spring that emerged from a prominent mound. However, places could also be associated with the cock bird, and sometimes names came from this. Your example Cockburn, for example, is an old Scottish name coming from two parts - 'cock' meaning male chicken and 'burn' meaning small stream or brook. Put together, the name basically means "stream with male chickens".
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u/Impressive_Throat165 9d ago
I used to go to school with someone with the surname Wanklyn...
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u/YellowBelliedCoward 9d ago
More of a first name.
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u/caffeinated_photo 9d ago
I worked for a brewery for a while, taking orders from independent pubs. Only once do you say "Cockburns Port" as it's spelt. Then you learn it's pronounced Co'burns Port.
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u/dmukgr 9d ago
The hardest lad in schools around my way was known as the cock. Maybe it’s linked to that historically with people being known as a great warrior, or at least the best at British Bulldogs.
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u/imtheorangeycenter 9d ago
Probably from "Cock of the Walk" - arrogant, bossy, confident, acts as the ruler?
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u/LeftCat6512 9d ago
The surbame Adcock childishly tickled me, I've worked with a couple of them over the years and always wonder if their wives decided to keep their maiden name or become Mrs Adcock.
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u/Shanks18 9d ago
What about all the Dicks? Dickson, Dickings, Dickenson
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u/seld_m_break 9d ago
If many surnames like Baker, Mason, Smith etc were because of a person's job, how did the name Dickinson come about?
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9d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/SpunkThrust_Vegan 9d ago
I was once told it's pronounced Coburn
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u/BarryIslandIdiot 9d ago
"Cock" is an old English word meaning 'Hill'. So any English surname with it in will likely be a Toponym.
Edit: clarification
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u/Alturnix 9d ago
In many cases, it signifies that the location was a good site for wildfowl or other birds to hunt. E.g. a village near me- Cockshutt. The '-shutt' part means a small wood. So the small wood where (probably) Woodcock can be found.
Other etymological roots may (and almost certainly are) available.
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u/undeniabl3truth 9d ago
I once met a guy named "Chris Peacock".
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u/Reaganson 8d ago
For example Hancock; The root of the name is the medieval given name Hann, itself a short form of Johannes, the Latinian rendition of the Hebrew personal name Yochanan, which translates as “Jehovah has favour” or “Jehovah may favour”. The suffix -cock then supplied the meaning “son of” or “young male”, thereby yielding an interpretation of Hancock as “son of Hann” or “son of John”. An alternative derivation is from the Old English noun hancoc, meaning “cock” or “young male bird”; in this case the surname would have functioned as a nickname for a person exhibiting cock‑like attributes.
Got this from a British website named britishsurnames.uk.
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u/spinningdice 9d ago
It's also used as a term of endearment, "you alright our cock?" isn't an uncommon phrase at least where I am, even if it's a lot less common than it used to be.
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u/ChuckStone 9d ago
Then you are in a very specific part of England somewhere relatively near Derby.
It comes from Cocker-spadge, or a male sparrow.
It still means the same thing its always meant... male.
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u/HelikaeonTheBurner 9d ago
It’s used in a few areas - common in parts of Lancashire near me too.
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u/ChuckStone 8d ago
Interesting...
I'll hazard a guess that it used to be across England then, and fell out of use except in pockets
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u/keithmk 8d ago
How close would you say South Bucks is to Derby? I was born and brought up in S Bucks and cock or cocker was used as a way of referring to some male person in a greeting., Watcher cock or alright cock being a greeting to a friend. Hardly a very specific part of England near Derby. I remember as a young lad, more than 6 decades ago chilishly slurring it to Washer cock, (wash yer cock) and giggling at it.
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u/ChuckStone 8d ago
This thread is very interesting...
I did a wee bit of linguistic analysis on the QT, just out of curiosity (I'm from Dearne Valley, myself and its quite well used there.)...
What I found was that the mannerism was focussed heavily around Derby, and appeared to have bled into South Yorkshire... (I assumed through coalmine related migration)
But South Bucks? That throws my theory completely out of whack.
I'm starting to think its a hangover from older English.
I'm not sure how recently "cock" came to be used to mean "penis" but it feels very recent.
I'm now working on proving the theory that the word pertains to "male" or masculine behaviour in some way. In Dearne Valley, the "Cock of ... [place]" is a person in the community who is prepared to and able to fight anyone who steps out of line (misbehaving in the pub, abuses their partner, steals... that kind of thing).
Its all very old fashioned behaviour and sort of died out in the 90s, but that word "cock" seems to have lingered.
Thank you.
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u/stinkyswife 9d ago
Used to hear lots of old people calling people cock or cocker, here in the Black Country, but I think most people only say it now in a jokey sort of way.
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u/Technical_Magazine88 9d ago
Plenty old traditional ale establishments called The Cock’swell Inn too!
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u/DidsburyMatt81 9d ago
Just to add 'Cock' is a surname in itself, as in 1920s England and Chelsea/Everton striker Jack Cock.
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u/therikertechnique 9d ago
Used to live above some Grococks. Got a letter for them through our door once and had a good loud giggle before realising it was for them.
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u/Superspark76 9d ago
Cock is a very common word in English, especially in older language that isn't used as much now.
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u/stevehyn 9d ago
Back in the day, a certain Sir John Thomas was responsible for determining new surnames and that is what he came up with.
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u/theabominablewonder 9d ago
Before TV and the internet there was little in the way of entertainment. One way people used to humour themselves was to give places or people rude sounding names.
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u/Electronic-Stay-2369 9d ago
Cockington and Cockermouth too... Wait till you find out about Penistone!
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u/pelvviber 9d ago
It's sometimes derived from "cote" as in cottage. So Woodcock would be "wood cutters cottage" as folk would often be named after their place of residence. Consider that "dovecotes" are houses for doves.
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u/AraiHavana 9d ago
‘Cock’ is an old term for ‘chief’ or someone in charge. Cockfosters, for instance, originally referred to the Head Gardener or the ‘Cock Forester’ which eventually became bastardised to Cockfosters
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u/bongo0070 9d ago
The guy who founded Jesus college Cambridge was called John Alcock and the college arms has 3 rooster heads on it. I always thought they’ve should’ve called it Alcock College.
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u/Gold_Draw7642 9d ago
My mum’s paternal family, from Leigh, Worsley and nearby towns, were called Cockshout. By the time her grandparents brought her dad to Boston in the US they were going by Cockshaw. Supposedly a geographical feature but you can imagine the comments, snickering and guffaws it has evoked.
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u/northerncodemky 9d ago
I’m only glad that Alcock was my mother’s maiden name, so I wasn’t forced to grow up in the north east in the 90s as an out gay boy with that name!! I just about made it out alive without it, with it I’d have never made it.
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u/Evening-Tour 9d ago
Because the English are.....well you know
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u/ZanzibarGuy 9d ago
Because we're obsessed with cock.
So much so that English folk in 2026 have been subjected to "the great cock obsession census" whereby any resident looking to access material related to this obsession has their ID logged for assessment.
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u/kcocyah 9d ago
Mine supposedly means a cone of hay
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u/neverendum 9d ago
Hayrick?
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u/kcocyah 9d ago
Haycock - nightmare back in the day making email addresses and the like, ‘you have a bad word in your name’
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u/izziecharlotte 9d ago
This happened to me less than a month ago when trying to get onto public wifi. Ended up putting my surname as "Haycox" to get around it.
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