[1][2][3] An early record of the surname dates from 1556 with the marriage of Alicea Cox at St. Martin in the Fields, Westminster, London.

[5] One possibility of the origin is that it is a version of the Old English cocc which means "the little", and was sometimes put after the name of a leader or chieftain as a term of endearment.

In Cornwall, the surnames Cock and Couch (pronounced 'cooch') also derive from Cornish cogh "red, scarlet".

In the Battle of Hastings in October 1066, Alric Le Coq was one of Duke William's companions.

This name, like the related Cockx, is a degenerate form of Cocceius, a latinization of Kok (English: cook).