An English surname, Cooke comes from the Latin term ‘coquus’ and the Old English term ‘coc’ which both refer to a person preparing meals or one who sells cooked meats. The spelling variations for Cooke include Cook and Cocus. In Germany the spelling for Cooke would be Koch. In England the Cooke surname has been for years in every region of the country including all of Wales. Those counties with the greatest Cooke population are Cheshire, Lancashire, Yorkshire, Durham, Lincolnshire, Warwickshire, Norfolk, Nottinghamshire, Hampshire and the city of London. In Scotland the major concentration of Cooke households is in Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire and Midlothian. Additional Cooke families live across the country, even into the far northern region. Within the United States the original Cooke families first settled in New York, Virginia, Rhode Island, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. By the 20th century the Cooke name was across most of the country and strong in Pennsylvania, California, Texas and Illinois. Famous: Alistair Cooke (English journalist and television broadcaster), William Fothergill Cooke (19th century co-inventor of the Cooke-Wheatstone electrical telegraph), John Este Cooke (19th century novelist), Keith Cooke (actor), Sam Cooke (songwriter and singer), Weldon B. Cooke (early aviation pioneer), Steve Cooke (professional baseball player), Martin Cooke (opera singer), John Cooke (19th century co-founder of Danforth, Cooke and Company for manufacturing railroads), Francis Cooke (original passenger on the Mayflower arriving in Plymouth in 1621) and Anna Rice Cooke (founder of the Honolulu Academy of Arts in 1922).