Frequency: (18615)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
1. English: from the Middle English personal name Hann + the hypocoristic suffix -cok, which was commonly added to personal names (see Cocke).
2. Dutch: from Middle Dutch hanecoc ‘winkle’, ‘periwinkle’ (a type of shellfish), probably a metonymic occupational name for someone who gathered and sold shellfish.
FOREBEARS: Thomas Hancock, the uncle of Declaration of Independence signatory John Hancock (1736/7-93), was among the foremost of 18th-century American businessmen. He was a descendant of Nathaniel Hancock, who was known to have been in Cambridge, MA, as early as 1634. Born in Braintree, MA, John Hancock was president of the Second Continental Congress and the first governor of the state of MA.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
