Number 18 on our list of the most common surnames in 1861 Cornwall is Hocken, also spelt Hockin and Hocking. Several theories used to swirl around the origins of this name but the most likely is that it originally came from an old English name Hocca, the -in being added to make a pet name.
An Old English derivation would fit its early 16th century pattern, which was focused on the district between Bodmin Moor and the north coast south of Tintagel, with less of a presence in Cornish-speaking mid and west Cornwall.
As its spelling changed from Hockyn and Hocken in the 1500s to a majority Hocking (20 per cent in 1641 to around a half in the mid-1700s to 75 per cent by 1861), the geography of the name underwent a remarkable transformation. By the 1800s Hockings had become concentrated on the mining parishes of Camborne and St Just in Penwith in the west, this distribution effectively masking its more eastern emergence.
Cornish studies resources 
Personally, I would challenge your premise for the origin of these particular names. Presumably the name Hocking, Hockin, Hocken, etc are derived similarly to Hosking, given that a census officer would surely have no difficulty in mistaking a ‘c’ for an ‘s’ during the days when the majority of the population were illiterate. Apparently, that name is not derived from any English variant, it comes from the Cornish word for Sedgeman (Thatcher). As per ‘Hosking, James (1970) To America and Back with James Hosking, 1811; ed. James M. Hosking. St Buryan: the editor; pp. 77–78′, which provides a detailed account of the geneology and historic geographical occurrences in Cornwall.
Hosking/Hocking were among the most prolific names in West Cornwall. However, when I moved up country to England with my family in the late 1960s, our name was as rare as hen’s teeth. We were the only Hosking in the North Wilts/Berks phone book. So I am going claim these names for the Cornish language, not the English.
dhywgh hwi yn hwir
Mike Hosking
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Some Hoskings may well have originated from the St Germans placename Heskyn, which means ‘sedge, coarse grass; wet ground, bog’ according to Padel’s Cornish Place Name Elements, not Sedgeman. However, the location of the surname in the 1500s would make a south-east Cornish origin for all of them extremely unlikely. Furthermore, I can find no evidence that Hockin (a pet name from Hocca, or Hugh or Henry depending on one’s favoured theory) and Hoskin (a name with a -kin suffix) were one and the same name. Which one came first?
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Hm more often Hockin is regarded as the diminutive Hugh-kin, in the manner of Tonkin (Tom-kin) and Jenkin (John-kin), Dickins etc. I’m inclined to find this more probable. Who was called Hocca?
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Hi Joe, The reference is from The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names. As they claim to be the ‘ultimate reference work on family names’ they should know. But like you, I have my doubts.
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