There is some considerable disagreement over the meaning, if not the origin of this interesting name. That it is Olde English pre 8th Century AD and that it is a patronymic 'son of' deriving from the word "cocca", is not in dispute. The first recordings give the name both as Batecok and Badekoc, which may be bad spelling or they may be deliberate, if the latter then the meaning will be "the son of Bart(olomew)" and "the son of Bada" an Olde English personal name. Either way this name was one of the earliest into the Americas, William Badcocke, aged 20 of St Hillary, Cornwall, leaving on the Ship Margaret on March 1st 1633. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William Badecok. which was dated 1297, in the Pipe Rolls of Dorset. during the reign of King Edward 1, known as the Hammer of the Scots, 1272 - 1307. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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