Coco
A surname with several possible roots, including a nickname form related to “cock”/“cuckoo” or a Romance given-name source.
The #9,902 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 94,591 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname is not securely settled from the excerpts, and the historical forms are too sparse to choose one derivation with confidence. It may in some cases be a nickname surname related to Middle English and continental forms like Cokke/Cocco, which could point to an old word for a cock or perhaps a pet form built on a personal name. In Romance-language settings, Coco can also reflect a given-name or nickname tradition rather than a single fixed occupational meaning.
History
The records quoted here show medieval spellings such as Symoni Coco and Magistro Johano Coco, which prove the surname was in use in England by the early 1300s. Later bearers may reflect multiple independent origins, especially in English and Italian or Iberian families, where short nickname surnames often developed separately. In the modern United States, Coco is relatively uncommon but recognizable, and it can represent more than one family line.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The same medieval-looking form could be read in more than one way by historians, which is one reason surnames like Coco are often harder to pin down than they first appear.
From the historical record
“Indeed, William Bitton, Bishop of Exeter, who died in 1307, in his will leaves a bequest " Symoni Coco " ; and Richard de Gravesend, Bishop of London, who died in 1303, makes a bequest to " Magistro Johano Coco." Stephen le Cokke was Provost of Bristol in 1261, and James Cokkys 1 Pott (" Personen-namen ") does not…”
— Family Names and their Story