As
part of my investigations into my own Cobb family which came from
Norwich, Co Norfolk, I examined available records of Cobb's
across
the entire county to determine which, if any, gave rise to my
regrettably short line. Since my line dates to the 1600's, I have
limited my study of Norfolk Cobb's to those occurring before 1800. At
this stage unfortunately I have not been able to find any link, but am
including the other research in the hope that it may both be useful to
other researchers and the possibility one of these lines connects to my
own. The Cobb surname is quite common across Norfolk, sufficiently so
that the many distinct family groups are probably unrelated and their
surname derives from some commonplace origin, analogous to Smith
(occupation) or Brown (description). The one exception to this would be
the Cobbe's of Sandringham who were minor nobility and presumably
Norman in origin.
This surname, variations of which are Cobbe,
Cobb, Cobson, and Copson, is of early medieval English origin, and is
an example of the many early surnames that were gradually created
during the Middle Ages from the habitual use of a nickname. In this
instance, the nickname, or byname, recorded in Cornwall in 1201 as
"Cobba", derives from a term meaning "lump", found in both Saxon
and Old Norse, and used to denote a large, well built, impressive man.
The equivalent byname in Old Norse is recorded as "Kobbi", and the
examples of the surname Cobb or Cobbe found in the eastern counties of
England are probably derived from this source. In some cases, the
surname may represent a short form of the male personal name "Jacob",
from the hebrew "Yaakov", which is traditionally held to mean "he
supplanted", from the biblical story of Esau and Jacob. The first
recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Leuric
Cobbe, which was dated 1086, in the Domesday Book of Essex, during the
reign of King William 1, known as "William the Conqueror", 1066 - 1087.[
Internet
Surname Database]
