Cochrane (surname)

{{Infobox surname

| name = Cochrane

| image =

| image_size =

| caption =

| pronunciation = {{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|ɒ|x|r|ən|,_|ˈ|k|ɒ|k|r|ən}} {{respell|KOK(H)|rən}}

| meaning =

| region = Western Scotland, Ireland

| language = Irish, Scottish Gaelic

| variant = Cochran, Cocrane, Cocran, Cochren, Cockram, Cockran, Cockren, Cochern, Colqueran, Coughran, Cofran

| prefix =

| footnotes = Frequency Comparisons:[http://forebears.co.uk/surnames/cochrane Cochrane Surname at Forebears]

}}

Cochrane is a surname with multiple independent origins, two Scottish and one Irish. One of the Scottish names derives from a place in Scotland; the Irish surname and the other Scottish surname are both anglicisations of surnames from the Irish language and Scottish Gaelic respectively.

History

The name Cochrane originates from a habitational name derived from the "Lowlands of Cochrane", near Paisley in Renfrewshire. The derivation of the place name is uncertain. One possibility is that it is derived from the Welsh coch meaning "red"; however this theory is not supported by the early spelling of the name Coueran.{{cite web|url=http://www.ancestry.com/facts/Cochrane-family-history.ashx|title=Cochrane Name Meaning and History|accessdate=15 February 2009|work=Ancestry.com}}

It is also possible the name is derived from the Welsh word "cywrain", which means "skilled". Early recorded bearers of the surname are Waldeve de Coueran in 1262; William de Coughran in 1296; and Robert de Cochrane in about 1360.{{cite book |last=Reaney |first=Percy Hilde |author2=Wilson, Richard Middlewood |title=A Dictionary of English Surnames |url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryenglis00rean |url-access=limited |edition=3rd |year=1991 |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=0-203-99355-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/dictionaryenglis00rean/page/n771 695]}}

In Scotland during the 18th century, the surname was used as a Lowland adaptation of the Scottish Gaelic MacEachrain.{{cite book |last=Reaney |first=Percy Hilde |author2=Wilson, Richard Middlewood |title=A Dictionary of English Surnames |edition=3rd |year=1991 |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=0-203-99355-1 |page=xlix}}

In Ireland the surname was adopted as an Anglicisation of the surnames Ó Cogaráin and Mac Cogaráin, meaning respectively the descendant or the son of Cogarán (probably a diminutive of cogar "confidant").{{Cite web|url=https://www.sloinne.ie/surname/ga/o-cogarain/|title=Sloinne|website=www.sloinne.ie|access-date=2019-06-26|archive-date=26 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190626224307/https://www.sloinne.ie/surname/ga/o-cogarain/|url-status=dead}}

Demographics

The surname is especially concentrated in England in the counties of Durham in the North of England and Kent in the south. In Scotland, Cochrane is found in high frequency in the counties of South Lanarkshire, West Lothian and in Renfrewshire. The surname is the 224th most common surname in Scotland, 957th most common in England and ranked in the top 100 surnames of a number of former British colonies. There are a number of spelling variations including Cochran, Cockren, and Coughran.

Together Scotland and England have the highest percentage of the Cochrane surname anywhere in the world. In Ireland, the surname Cochrane is especially concentrated in the northern province of Ulster where it was introduced by Protestant Scots settlers during the Plantation period of the 17th century. It was also adopted as an anglicisation by some Corcoran families.{{cite book|title=The Surnames of Ireland: Origins and Numbers of Selected Irish Surnames|last=Neafsey|first=Edward|publisher=Irish Root Cafe|year=2002|isbn=0-940134-97-7|page=36}}

In Northern Ireland, the surname Cochrane is concentrated in the counties of Antrim, Londonderry, Down and Tyrone. James Cochrane, an Ulsterman, was a 19th-century entrepreneur who helped the Irish whiskey Bushmills and the Old Bushmills Distillery gain worldwide popularity.

In the United States, Cochranes arrived amongst the Ulster-Scots immigrants to the British North American colonies of New Hampshire and Pennsylvania.{{cite thesis |last1=Wallace |first1=Ralph Stuart |date=1984 |title=The Scotch-Irish of Provincial New Hampshire |type=PhD dissertation |publisher=University of New Hampshire |url=https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation/1432/}}{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/scotchirish00boltrich/scotchirish00boltrich_djvu.txt|title = Scotch Irish pioneers in Ulster and America|year = 1910|publisher = Boston, Bacon and Brown}} Many Cochranes lived in Winedham New Hampshire. They eventually moved to Boston, and now some of them live in Reston, Virginia. Some of the earliest Cochranes in the United States came from County Antrim, Northern Ireland, in the early 18th century after obtaining a land grant from the Governor of Massachusetts. Later Cochranes would arrive from Scotland and England.

Motto

Virtute et labore, a Latin phrase meaning "by valour and exertion".{{cite web | url=https://www.scotclans.com/collections/cochrane-tartan-shop | title=Cochrane Tartan Shop }}

People

Alasdair Cochrane (born 1978), British political theorist and ethicist
Sir Alexander Inglis Cochrane, British 18th/19th century seaman
Alexander Baillie-Cochrane, British Conservative Party (UK) politician
Alun Cochrane, Scottish comedian
Annalisa Cochrane (born 1996), American actress
Archibald Cochrane, 9th Earl of Dundonald, Scottish nobleman and inventor.
Archibald Cochrane, Rear admiral in the Royal Navy
Sir Archibald Douglas Cochrane, Unionist-Conservative and British Governor of Burma.
Archie Cochrane, British physician and researcher, after whom the Cochrane Collaboration is named.
Arthur Cochrane (officer of arms) (1872–1954),officer of arms at the College of Arms in London
Arthur Cochrane (Royal Navy officer) (1824–1905)
Arthur Ormiston Cochrane (1879–1926), Canadian politician
Aaron Van Schaick Cochrane (1858–1943), US Representative from New York, nephew of Isaac Whitbeck Van Schaick
Basil Cochrane (1753–1826), Scottish civil servant, businessman and inventor
Blake Cochrane (born 1991), Australian Paralympic swimmer
Caroline Cochrane, Premier of Northwest Territories Canada
Charles Norris Cochrane, (1889–1945), Canadian historian and philosopher
Dennis Cochrane, Canadian politician and civil servant
Sir Desmond Cochrane (1918–79)
Donald Cochrane (politician) (1904–1985), Australian politician
Donald Cochrane (economist) (1917–1983), Australian econometrician
Donald Alexander Cochrane, Canadian composer
Douglas Cochrane, 12th Earl of Dundonald, Scottish representative peer and a British Army general
Edward Cochrane (1834{{ndash}}1907), Canadian politician
Edward L. Cochrane (1892{{ndash}}1959), US Navy officer and naval architect
Elizabeth Jane Cochrane (Nellie Bly, 1864{{ndash}}1922), American journalist, writer and inventor
Elspeth Seton Cochrane (1916–2011), British actress, playwright, stage manager
Ethel Cochrane, Canadian Progressive Conservative senator.
Francis Cochrane, Canadian Unionist-Conservative politician.