Kough Surname History

Origins Available:
England
Ireland

The ancient Anglo-Saxon culture once found in Britain is the soil from which the many generations of the Kough family have grown. The name Kough was given to a member of the family who was a jackdaw. Checking further we found the name was derived from the Old English word coo. This was in turn derived from the Old Norse word ka, which was their word for jackdaw. Thus the original bearer of this name must have reminded his contemporaries of a jackdaw and was referred to as "Kough" as a nickname.

Early Origins of the Kough family

The surname Kough was first found in Lancashire, where the Kough family held a family seat from ancient times. The earliest known bearer of the name was Osbert Ka, who was recorded in the Pipe Rolls of Lancashire in 1188.

Early History of the Kough family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Kough research. Another 103 words (7 lines of text) covering the years 1188, 1221, 1783 and 1860 are included under the topic Early Kough History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Kough Spelling Variations

Sound was what guided spelling in the essentially pre-literate Middle Ages, so one person's name was often recorded under several variations during a single lifetime. Also, before the advent of the printing press and the first dictionaries, the English language was not standardized. Therefore, spelling variations were common, even among the names of the most literate people. Known variations of the Kough family name include Coe, Coes, Cowe, Kow, Cawe, Kowe, Coo, Ku, Koo and others.

Early Notables of the Kough family

More information is included under the topic Early Kough Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Kough family to Ireland

Some of the Kough family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt. More information about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Kough migration to the United States +

For political, religious, and economic reasons, thousands of English families boarded ships for Ireland, the Canadas, the America colonies, and many of smaller tropical colonies in the hope of finding better lives abroad. Although the passage on the cramped, dank ships caused many to arrive in the New World diseased and starving, those families that survived the trip often went on to make valuable contributions to those new societies to which they arrived. Early immigrants bearing the Kough surname or a spelling variation of the name include :

Kough Settlers in United States in the 18th Century

Jacob Kough, who landed in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania in 1742 1
Dennis Kough, who arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1773 1

Kough Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

Lewis Kough, who arrived in Allegany (Allegheny) County, Pennsylvania in 1878 1
Malichi Kough, who landed in Allegany (Allegheny) County, Pennsylvania in 1879 1

Kough migration to New Zealand +

Emigration to New Zealand followed in the footsteps of the European explorers, such as Captain Cook (1769-70): first came sealers, whalers, missionaries, and traders. By 1838, the British New Zealand Company had begun buying land from the Maori tribes, and selling it to settlers, and, after the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, many British families set out on the arduous six month journey from Britain to Aotearoa to start a new life. Early immigrants include:

Kough Settlers in New Zealand in the 19th Century

Johanna Kough, aged 20, a servant, who arrived in Wellington, New Zealand aboard the ship "Ionic" in 1884

Citations +

Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)