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The male bird, the cock, was often used as a nickname to describe the natural pertness of boys, like the habits of a strutting fowl.  Both swaggered and both could crow.  Thus cock became the general sobriquet for a sharp and forward lad.   Its use was Anglo-Saxon, predating the Norman arrival.  Alvin Coc was recorded as a dispossessed Saxon in the 1086 Domesday Book.

As time went on it was used more and more for boys and servants until it was firmly established as a surname.  As with most Christian names, a final "s" was frequently added and quite often this was combined with a "ck" and spelt with an "x" and the word was sometimes attached to the Christian name, such as Han-cock and Will-cox.  Spellings such as Cock and Cocke continued.  But the Cox spelling of the surname had begun to establish itself by the 15th century.

Other origins for the Cox surname have been suggested and may be applicable in certain geographic areas.  

Select Cox Resources on The Internet

• Cox Surname Origins.  Origins of the Cox surname.
• Cox USA.  American Coxes.
• Cox Family History.  Coxes from North Carolina.
• The John Cox Family.  Irish weavers and wanderers.

England.  There appear to have been two early clusters of the name Cox as a surname in England, in the southwest in Wiltshire, Dorset, and Somerset and in the middle of the country in Warwickshire and Oxfordshire.   The Cox name was not seen much in eastern or northern England.

A notable Cox family from Hertfordshire included Richard Cox, the 16th century Bishop of Ely.  Coxes from Wimborne in Dorset were shipowners.  William Cox of this family was an early settler in Australia (he arrived in 1800). 

Ireland.  Cox in Ireland was derived from the Gaelic Mac an Choiligh, mainly to be found in county Roscommon (where they were corabs of St. Barry at Kilbarry).  Denis Cox (Donnchadh MacCoiligh), born in Meath in 1882, was a popular singer of traditional Irish ballads.

America.  Richard Cocke arrived in Virginia from Shropshire and acquired large land holdings in Henrico county during the 1630's.  One line of his family later extended to Tennessee.

The spelling of other 17th century immigrants, such as William Cox from Bristol who settled in Pemaquid, Maine, was generally Cox.  Some of William Cox's descendants were Loyalists who later decamped to Canada.  John Cox of this family operated an extensive shipping business out of Portland, Maine during the 19th century.  

Select Cox Names

Richard Cocks was an early English trader for the East India Company in Japan.
William Cox was a pioneer settler in Australia.
Richard Cox was the originator of the "Cox's Orange Pippin" apple in Berkshire in 1825.
James Cox was Governor of Ohio and campaigned on the Democratic ticket for the Presidency in 1920.
Archibald Cox was US Solicitor General and later Special Prosecutor to investigate the Watergate scandal.

Select Coxes Today

• 93,000 in the UK (most numerous in Oxfordshire)
• 90,000 in America (most numerous in Texas)
• 55,000 elsewhere (most numerous in Canada)