Koch
The cook — the kitchen of the great house.
- Origin
- German
- Famous bearer
- Robert Koch (1843–1910), microbiologist, Nobel laureate 1905
- Register
- German family
The seat of Koch
Seat vacantChief
No one leads the Koch community yet. When the movement opens, you can stand for its leadership, or help elect whoever does.
Current mission
No shared goal set yet. Once Koch has leadership, it sets the public focus: a restoration, a gathering, a real-world project that helps its own.
The Koch clan is being rebuilt. Join the waiting list for the movement today, and you help decide who leads it and what it does.
Help rebuild the Koch clan →What does the Koch name mean?
The cook, Middle High German koch (Latin coquus) — the cook of a lord's household, an inn, or a monastery kitchen.
The history of Koch
A cook of any standing worked not at home but in a household large enough to keep one: a noble table, a wealthy inn, a monastery refectory. It was a position of trust — the man with his hands on what everyone ate — and the trade-name became common across the German-speaking world.
Its most famous bearer never cooked a thing. Robert Koch, son of a mining official, founded the science of bacteriology, identified the organisms of anthrax, tuberculosis and cholera, and took the Nobel Prize in 1905 — proof of how far a humble trade-name can travel from the trade.
Explore With Your Ancestors · Beta
Pick any year from 500 to 1945 and any place on earth — the Koch country, or a shore no Koch ever reached. The chronicler sets the scene; the deeds are yours.
Notable bearers of the Koch name
- Robert Koch (1843–1910), microbiologist, Nobel laureate 1905