# Cook (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/cook/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

An English surname originating as an occupation for a cook or seller of cooked food. Famously held by James Cook, English captain and explorer of the Pacific Ocean, and for whom the Cook Islands, Cook Strait and Mount Cook were named.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | not recorded |
| Type | occupational, named after the work an ancestor did |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 302,589 |
| US rank (2010) | 65 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 1,020 people |
| Change since 2000 | +2.6% (294,795 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /kʊk/, 1 syllable |
| Variant spellings | Cooke, Coke |

## Etymology

From cook. Doublet of Koch and Kok.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Cook in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 82% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 13% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.2% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.6% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.9% |
| Two or more races | 2.0% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Cook in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom.

## People named Cook

- Tim Cook, American business executive, Apple executive chairman
- Sam Cooke, American singer and songwriter (1931–1964)
- Rachael Leigh Cook, American actress and model
- Joseph Cook, 6th prime minister of Australia from 1913 to 1914
- Stephen Cook, American-Canadian computer scientist
- Robin Cook, American novelist, ophthalmologist, aquanaut
- Frederick Cook, American explorer (1865-1940)
- David Cook, American musician
- Dane Cook, American actor and comedian
- Peter Cook, British actor, satirist, writer and comedian (1937-1995)
- Elisha Cook Jr., American actor (1903-1995)
- Mason Cook, American actor

and 52 more on Wikidata.

## Similar surnames

Cooke, Coco, Coke, Cock, Cooksey, Cooks, Cox, Casey, Chase, Case, Cash, Couch.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.