Cooke

Cooke is a surname of English and Irish origin derived from the occupation of cook and anglicisation of various Gaelic names. Variants include Cook and McCook.

== Irish surname origin == Cooke (rather than Cook) is the usual spelling of the surname in Ireland, where it is found throughout all four provinces. In Connacht, Cooke is the modern anglicized form of the Gaelic name Mac Dhabhóc (also called Mac Uag). In Leinster, it is mainly an occupational name, long established there. In 1465, a law was passed that impacted Gaelic surnames in several counties in Leinster, specifically, Dublin, Meath, Louth and Kildare. The law required that "every Irishman, dwelling betwixt or amongst Englishmen... shall take to him an English surname of one town, as Sutton, Chester, Trim, Skryne, Cork, Kinsale; or colour, as white, black, browne; or art or science, as smith or carpenter; or office, as cooke, butler...". In Ulster, many Cookes descend from the MacCooks (MacCuagh) of Kintyre, a branch of the Clan MacDonald.