It was in the Scottish/English Borderlands that the Strathclyde-Briton people first used the ancient name Cockrane. It was a name for someone who lived in
Renfrewshire, where they took on the name of the lands of Cochrane in the parish of Paisley, near Glasgow. This place name is of uncertain derivation, perhaps stemming from the
Welsh word "coch," meaning "red."
Early Origins of the Cockrane family
The surname Cockrane was first found in
Renfrewshire (Gaelic: Siorrachd Rinn Friù), a historic county of
Scotland, today encompassing the Council Areas of
Renfrew, East
Renfrewshire, and Iverclyde, in the Strathclyde region of southwestern Scotland, where the first record of the name was Waldeve de Coueran, who was witness to a charter issued by Dugal, son of Syfyn, to Walter Stewart, fifth Earl of Menteith, regarding several lands in
Kintyre. William de Coughran of Lanark swore an oath of allegiance to
King Edward I of
England during his short conquest of
Scotland in 1296. Walter Cochrane was the first record of the more popular spelling used today in 1262. His son William Cochrane, the second chief of the
Clan, also rendered homage to
King Edward I in 1296.
Early History of the Cockrane family
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Cockrane research.
Another 231 words (16 lines of text) covering the years 1482, 1600, 1669, 1605, 1685, 1707, 1669, 1683, 1690, 1691, 1778, 1659, 1717, 1708 and 1713 are included under the topic Early Cockrane History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Cockrane Spelling Variations
Scribes in Medieval
Scotland spelled names by sound rather than any set of rules, so an enormous number of
spelling variations exist in names of that era. Cockrane has been spelled Cochrane, Cochran, Cocrane, Cocran, Cochren, Cockram, Cockran, Cockren and many more.
Early Notables of the Cockrane family (pre 1700)
Notable amongst the family at this time was William Cochrane (1605-1685), 1st Earl of Dundonald. Of his children was Sir John Cochrane (d. 1707), who was a Member of Parliament for
Ayrshire in 1669; he was suspected of complicity in the Rye House Plot, and fled to Holland in 1683, returned...
Another 55 words (4 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Cockrane Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Migration of the Cockrane family to Ireland
Some of the Cockrane family moved to
Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt.
Another 51 words (4 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Migration of the Cockrane family to the New World and Oceana
The number of Strathclyde
Clan families sailing for North America increased steadily as the persecution continued. In the colonies, they could find not only freedom from the iron hand of the English government, but land to settle on. The American
War of Independence allowed many of these settlers to prove their independence, while some chose to go to Canada as United Empire Loyalists. Scots played essential roles in the forging of both great nations. Among them:
Cockrane Settlers in United States in the 19th Century
- Thomas Cockrane, aged 24, who landed in New York in 1812 [1]CITATION[CLOSE]
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)
Cockrane Settlers in New Zealand in the 19th Century
- Luke Cockrane, who arrived in Auckland, New Zealand aboard the ship "Phoenix" in 1860
The Cockrane Motto
The motto was originally a war cry or slogan. Mottoes first began to be shown with arms in the 14th and 15th centuries, but were not in general use until the 17th century. Thus the oldest coats of arms generally do not include a motto. Mottoes seldom form part of the grant of arms: Under most heraldic authorities, a motto is an optional component of the coat of arms, and can be added to or changed at will; many families have chosen not to display a motto.
Motto: Virtute et labore
Motto Translation: By valour and exertion.