Cockerham Surname — Origin & Early History

Verified as of November 2025

The surname Cockerham (variants: Cockram, Cockrem, Cockeram, etc.) is an English locational surname from the village of Cockerham in Lancashire, recorded as Cocreham in the Domesday Book (1086).

Etymology

River Cocker (Old Celtic “crooked/winding”) + Old English hām “homestead”
→ “Homestead on the winding river”

Earliest Known Bearers

• 1349 — John de Kokerham, freeman of York (first recorded use)
• 1400s–1500s — concentrated in Lancashire & Yorkshire

Migration to North America

• 1639 — Captain William Cockerham arrives in Virginia
• 1666 — Granted 850 acres in Surry County for transporting 17 people (including John & Mary Cockerham)
• Late 1700s — Major cluster in Surry County, North Carolina (Moses, Daniel, William lines)

Y-DNA Evidence (2025)

Public FTDNA project shows nearly all testers in R-BY33587 — confirming a single medieval British origin.

Live Global Statistics

Last updated November 2025

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