The family name Cox is a good example of the evolutionary
nature of names. It is indicative of the familiar terms on
which men and women use to live with wild creatures. The
general term for a male bird, cock, (which was used to
express the lively, dominating spirit of all male birds, not just
the barnyard variety), comes from names first spoken in the
pioneering days of the Anglo-Saxons and existed in speech
long before it was written down.It was often use as a nickname
to describe the natural pertness of boys, so like the habits of
strutting fowl. Both swaggered, and both could crow. In the
Nun’s Priest’s Tale by Chaucer, it is said of the rooster Chanticleer:
Nothing ne list him thane for to crow
But cried anon cok, cok, and up he sterte.
Thus cock became the general sobriquet of a sharp and forward
lad. The farm boy, the scullion, or the apprentice was called
cock by itself, or sometimes the word was attached to his Christian
name, such as Jeff-cock, Will-cock, or Han-cock.
By 1066 this name was already in use as a surname Alvin Coc is
on the dispossessed Saxons listed in the Domesday Book (the
original record of William the Conqueror’s survey of England).
It also continued as a popular first name among the lower classes.
Kok Forester and Kok de Mari are both listed in the Sussex Subsidy
of 1296.
As time went on it was used more and more for boys and servants
until it was firmly established as a surname. As with most Christian
names, a final "s" was frequently added, and quite often this was
combined with the "ck" and spelled with an "x". This practical
short cut in spelling was the way in which Cox evolved, although
the modern abbreviation of the name tends to disguise the original
form.
Cox finds its geographical home in the south of England in the
contiguous counties of Dorset and Somerset. While it is fairly
numerous in the Counties of Gloucester, Oxford, and Warwickshire,
it is rare or absent in the north of England and in the eastern coast
counties.
As discussed previously, the name had wide use as early as 1066.
By 1273, at the time of the famous Hundred Rolls, there were several
forms of the name in use:
Coc de Slepe of Salop County
Edward Cockson
Thomas Kokson
Walter Cox
