cox

Cox
Family name
The hills found in Carmarthenshire, Wales, where Cox may have been a topographic name for a man "from the red hills.".
Pronunciation	/ˈkɒks/ koks
Meaning	Possibly derived from cock or coch, and means "from the hills", or from cocc, which means "the little," or derived from coch, meaning "the Red."
Region of origin	England or Wales
Language(s) of origin	Old English or Welsh

The surname Cox is of English or Welsh origin, and may have originated independently in several locations in Great Britain, with the variations arriving at a standard spelling only later. An early record of the surname dates from 1556 with the marriage of Alicea Cox at St. Martin in the Fields, Westminster, London.^[1] Cox is the 69th-most common surname in the United Kingdom.^[2]

Origin

One possibility of the origin is that it is a version of the Old English cocc which means "the little," and was sometimes placed after the name of a leader or chieftain as a term of endearment. Surnames such as Wilcox, Willcocks and Willcox are examples of this practice: all are composed of the name William and the archaic word cocc, coming together to mean "little William." The suggestion is that only the element -cox may have endured as a surname for some families.

Another opinion is that the name is derived from the Old English cock, which means a "heap" or "mound," and was a topographic name for a man living near any heap, hill or other bundle. Names like Haycock or Haycox come from such practice, meaning from "the hay mounds" or "the hay fields." Again, the element -cox may have only been carried on in some families.

The third possibility is that it comes from the Welsh coch, meaning "red." In this opinion, the word could have either been applied to a man with red hair, calling him in essence "the Red," or else served as a topographic name for someone living near the rudy-hued hills found in Wales, implying that the man is "from the red hills." In Cornwall, the surnames Cock and Couch (pronounced 'cooch') also derive from Cornish cogh "red, scarlet". As a Cornish surname, Cock can also derive from 'cok', "fishing boat", the Cornish surname "Cocking" being the diminutive form 'cokyn', "small fishing boat". In these cases, the surname is likely to derive from occupation.

The English word cock is derived from the French coq, and a fourth possibility, though a very limited one (as the surname had already been established in many parts of Great Britain), is that the surname came about as a nickname from the French language.

Noticeably similar surnames include Cock, Cocks, Coxe, Coxen and Coxon. There is no evidence beyond similar spellings and phonetics that these surnames are related. Given that the origins of the Cox surname are uncertain, it is possible that these names developed as spelling variations, or that each of these names has an origin in a separate word and language.

Notable persons

Given name A-L

A

• Alex Cox, film director
• Alan Cox, leader in Linux
• Alan Cox (radio personality), American radio personality
• Alan Cox (actor), Anglo-Scottish actor
• Allan V. Cox, American geologist
• Ana Marie Cox, American blogger and author
• Andy Cox, British guitarist
• Anne Cox Chambers, media owner, daughter of James M.
• Anthony Cox, jazz musician
• Anthony Cox, film producer and former husband of Yoko Ono
• Anthony Berkeley Cox, British writer
• Archibald Cox, U.S. Solicitor General under President John F. Kennedy; first Special Prosecutor appointed to investigate the Watergate scandal
• Arthur Cox, British actor
• Arthur Cox (footballer), British football manager

B

• Barbara Cox, writer and script editor
• Barbara Cox (footballer), New Zealand international women's football (soccer) player
• Barbara Cox Anthony, Media owner, daughter of James M. Cox
• Billy Cox, American bass guitarist
• Billy Cox (baseball) (1919–1978), American Major League Baseball middle infielder
• Bobby Cox, American baseball manager
• Brad Cox, American computer scientist, developer of Objective-C
• Brian Cox, Scottish actor
• Brian Cox, British physicist
• Bryan Cox, American football player
• Bryan-Michael Cox, songwriter

C

• Carl Cox, British musician
• Catherine Cox (actress), American Actress
• Catharine Elizabeth Bean Cox, American/Hawaiian art scholar
• Cathy Cox, American politician
• Channing H. Cox, American politician
• Charles Cox (disambiguation)
• Chip Cox, American football player
• Christopher Cox, SEC chairman
• Chris Cox (actor)
• Chris Cox (DJ), dance music producer
• Christina Cox, Canadian actress
• Christopher Augustus Cox, British soldier
• Constance Cox, British scriptwriter
• Courteney Cox, American actress
• Crystal Cox, Olympic Gold Medallist and reality TV star
• Curome Cox, American football player

D

• Danny Cox, MLB pitcher who played in three different World Series contests
• Dave Cox, American politician
• David Cox (Australian politician), former member of the House of Representatives for the Division of Kingston
• David Cox (artist), prominent English landscape painter
• David Cox (statistician), prominent British statistician
• Dean Cox (disambiguation)
• Deborah Cox, Canadian singer
• Dennis Cox (1925–2001), English cricketer and administrator
• Derek Cox, American football player
• Dewey Cox, a fictional musician and subject of the comedic film Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.
• Doc Cox, British television personality, sound engineer and rude singer
• Donna Cox, American Professor of Art

E

• Edward Everett Cox, Indiana publisher and Democrat
• Edward F. Cox, keyboardist from Scottish band The Hurricanes
• Edward F. Cox, New York lawyer and potential politician
• Elbert Frank Cox, American mathematician
• Emily Cox (puzzle writer), American puzzle writer
• Emily Cox (conductor), Australian conductor and Choir master
• Emily Cox (Miss Kentucky), American beauty pageant contestant
• Eric Cox, Australian rugby league player, coach, referee and administrator
• Ernest Cox, British engineer

F

• Fred Cox, American football player
• Freddie Cox, English football player

G

• Geoffrey Cox, British barrister and politician
• Geoffrey Cox (journalist) (1910–2008), British television journalist
• George Cox (Ottawa politician) (1834–1909), mayor of Ottawa, Ontario, 1894
• George Albertus Cox (1840–1914), Canadian capitalist and Senator
• George William Cox (1827–1902), British historian
• Geraldine Cox, Australian orphanage administrator in Cambodia
• Gertrude Mary Cox, American statistician
• Greg Cox (disambiguation)

H

• Harry Cox, British traditional singer
• Harvey Cox, American theologian
• Heather Cox (singer), American Idol contestant
• H. R. Cox, American bacteriologist

I

• Ida Cox, blues and jazz musician
• Isaac Joslin Cox, American historian

J

• Jacob Dolson Cox, American soldier and politician
• Jack Cox (disambiguation)
• James Cox (Representative)
• James Allan Cox, American professional wrestler better known as James Storm
• James Charles Cox (1834–1912), Australian physician and conchologist
• James L. Cox, MD, American cardiothoracic surgeon
• James M. Cox, American publisher and politician, Governor of Ohio and Democratic presidential nominee in 1920
• James Renshaw Cox, American Catholic priest and activist
• Jamie Cox, Australian cricketer
• Jan Cox (painter), artist
• Jennings Cox, American mining engineer and supposed inventor of the daiquiri
• John Cox (Royal Navy officer) (1928–2006), a British Royal Navy admiral
• John Cox (cartoonist), an American cartoonist
• John Cox (cricketer), a Tasmanian-Australian cricketer
• John Arthur "Chubby" Cox III (born 1955), an American basketball player
• John B. Cox, a British-Australian ornithologist
• John Carrington Cox, an American professor and economist
• John H. Cox (born 1955), an Illinois politician, businessman, and radio host, Republican
• John I. Cox (1855–1946), a governor of Tennessee
• John R. Cox, Jr. (1913–1995), the birth name of American actor John Howard
• John Rogers Cox, an American artist
• John W. Cox, Jr. (born 1947), an Illinois lawyer and former Congressman, Democrat
• Joseph Buford Cox, American inventor
• Josephine Cox, English author
• Joshua Cox, American actor
• Julianna Cox, fictional character from Homicide: Life on the Street
• Julie Cox, Scottish actress

K

• Kathy Cox, American politician
• Kathy Cox (skydiver), Canadian skydiver
• Kenyon Cox, American artist
• Kristen Cox, American politician
• Kyoko Chan Cox, daughter of Anthony Cox and Yoko Ono

L

• Leroy (Roy) M. Cox, American entrepreneur
• Leslie Reginald Cox (1897–1965), British malacologist
• Lionel Cox, Australian track cyclist
• Lynne Cox, swimmer

Given name M-Z

M

• Margaret Cox, Irish politician
• Marian Roalfe Cox English folklorist
• Marion Cox, former NASCAR car owner
• Mark Cox (tennis), British tennis player
• Mia Cox, American singer-songwriter
• Michael Cox (clergyman), Palmarian Archbishop
• Michele Cox, New Zealand international women's football (soccer) player
• Michael J. Cox, American pharmacist and biographer
• Mike Cox, American politician

N

• Nicholas Cox (disambiguation)
• Nikki Cox, American actress

O

• Oscar Cox, promoter of soccer in Brazil

P

• Palmer Cox, Canadian inventor
• Pat Cox, former president of the European Parliament
• Percy Cox, British diplomat
• Dr. Perry Cox, a fictional character on the TV series Scrubs
• Peter Cox (disambiguation)
• Philip Cox, Australian architect

R

• Reg Cox, fictional character in East Enders soap opera
• Renée Cox, American artist and photographer
• Richard Cox (bishop), Anglican bishop of the sixteenth century
• Richard Colvin Cox, disappeared American cadet
• Richard Threlkeld Cox, physicist and statistician (Cox's theorem)
• Robert E. Cox, American optical engineer and popularizer of amateur telescope making
• Robert Edward Cox, American Medal of Honor recipient
• Robert O. Cox, American mayor
• Robert W. Cox, Canadian international relations academic
• Ron Cox (racing driver), American driver
• Ronny Cox, American actor
• Roxbee Cox, Baron Kings Norton, British aircraft engineer
• Russell M. Cox (1919–1942), American navy officer

S

• Samuel Cox (minister), English Nonconformist minister
• Samuel Hanson Cox, American Presbyterian theologian
• Samuel S. Cox, American Congressman and diplomat
• Sandy Cox, American politician
• Sara Cox, British presenter for the BBC
• Stephen Cox (cyclist), New Zealand cyclist
• Steve Cox, American baseball player
• Steve Cox (American football)
• Steve Cox (artist), Australian artist

T

• Tara Cox, New Zealand international women's football (soccer) player
• Terry Cox, folk rock drummer
• Tiequon Cox, American murderer
• Tom Cox, British politician
• Tony Cox, American actor
• Tony Cox, guitarist based in South Africa
• Tricia Nixon Cox, wife of Edward F. Cox and daughter of Richard Nixon

W

• Wally Cox, American actor
• Wendell Cox, public policy consultant
• William Cox (athlete) (1904–1996), United States Olympic medallist
• William Cox (pioneer) (1764–1837), constructor of the road across the Blue Mountains in New South Wales, Australia
• William Cox (governor) (born 1936), known as Bill Cox, Chief Justice and Lieutenant-Governor of Tasmania, Australia
• William George Cox (19th C.), colonial official and Gold Commissioner for the Boundary Country in British Columbia, Canada during the Rock Creek War
• William John Cox (1941), also known as Billy Jack, American public interest lawyer, retired prosecutor, author and political activist
• William Robert Cox (1901–1988), prolific writer of short stories and Western and Mystery novels mainly for the pulp and paperback markets
• William R. Cox (1832–1919), Confederate general in the United States Civil War, later Secretary of the United States Senate
• William Sitgreaves Cox (1790–1874), court-martialled acting third lieutenant on the USS Chesapeake (1799)

References

• Cottle, Basil. Penguin Dictionary of Surnames. Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1967.
• Hanks, Patrick. Dictionary of American Family Names. Oxford University Press, 2003.
• Hanks, Patrick and Flavia Hodges. A Dictionary of Surnames. Oxford University Press, 1989.
• Smith, Elsdon C. American Surnames. Genealogical Publishing Company, 1997.