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Cook Family History

Cook Surname Meaning

English: occupational name for a cook, a seller of cooked meats, or a keeper of an eating house from Middle English cok, coke, cook, couk, cuk(e) (Old English cōc) ‘cook’ or ‘seller of cooked foods’. See also Kew.

Irish and Scottish: usually identical in origin with the English name (see 1 above) but in some cases a shortened Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Cúg ‘son of Hugo’ (see McCook).

Americanized form (translation into English) of various European surnames meaning ‘cook’ such as German and Jewish Koch, Dutch Kook, Polish Kucharz and Kucharczyk, Slovenian and Croatian Kuhar, North German Kuk.

Americanized form of Slovenian, Croatian, and Polish Kuk. Americanized form (mistranslation into English) of French Lécuyer ‘squire’ (see Lecuyer).

Americanized form of Korean and especially Chinese (Cantonese) Kuk 5-9 or of its variant Kook 3-6.

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022


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Where is the Cook family from?

You can see how Cook families moved over time by selecting different census years. The Cook family name was found in the USA, the UK, Canada, and Scotland between 1840 and 1920. The most Cook families were found in USA in 1880. In 1840 there were 989 Cook families living in New York. This was about 19% of all the recorded Cook's in USA. New York had the highest population of Cook families in 1840.
Use census records and voter lists to see where families with the Cook surname lived. Within census records, you can often find information like name of household members, ages, birthplaces, residences, and occupations.
  • 1840
  • 1880
  • 1920
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What did your Cook ancestors do for a living?

In 1940, Farmer and Housewife were the top reported jobs for men and women in the USA named Cook. 15% of Cook men worked as a Farmer and 7% of Cook women worked as a Housewife. Some less common occupations for Americans named Cook were Truck Driver and Teacher.

View Census Data for Cook | Data not to scale

*We display top occupations by gender to maintain their historical accuracy during times when men and women often performed different jobs.

Top Male Occupations In 1940

  • Farmer
    15%
  • Laborer
    15%
  • Salesman
    4%
  • Truck Driver
    3%

Top Female Occupations In 1940

  • Housewife
    7%
  • Housekeeper
    6%
  • Maid
    6%
  • Teacher
    5%

What Cook family records will you find?

Census Records

There are 2 million census records available for the last name Cook. Like a window into their day-to-day life, Cook census records can tell you where and how your ancestors worked, their level of education, veteran status, and more.

Search US census records for Cook

Passenger Lists

There are 299,000 immigration records available for the last name Cook. Passenger lists are your ticket to knowing when your ancestors arrived in the USA, and how they made the journey - from the ship name to ports of arrival and departure.

View all Cook immigration records

Draft Cards

There are 379,000 military records available for the last name Cook. For the veterans among your Cook ancestors, military collections provide insights into where and when they served, and even physical descriptions.

View all Cook military records

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