What are the origins of the surname cole?

Question:

What are the origins of the surname cole?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Cole
This very interesting English, Irish and occasionally Scottish surname was originally a personal name. It is generally accepted as deriving
from the personal name Nicholas, itself of Ancient Greek origins, or it may have derived from the Olde English pre 7th Century byname
'Cola', meaning black. This presumably denoted one of dark or swarthy appearance and may possibly have described a Dane or Anglo-
Sazon. 'Cola' and 'Cole' as personal names are recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, although the surname was only some seventy years
behind (See below). The patronymic form of the now more popular 'Coles' is not recorded until the 16th Century, when George Coles appears
in the register of Freemen of the City of York in 1555. In the modern idiom the surname has a number of variant spellings including
Coale(s), Coule(s), Cowle(s), and Coleson. Examples of the surname recording include Johannes Cole in the Yorkshire Poll Tax rolls of
1379, and Elias Cole in the same register. A later example is that of John Coles who married Margarett Warton, at St. Stephen's,
Coleman Street, London, on June 24th 1565, whilst one of the earliest settlers in the American colonies was Edward Coles, who on June
15th 1635, at the age of 20 yrs, embarked on the ship 'Thomas and John' of London, bound for Virginia. The Coat of arms originally
granted in the time of King Henry 1V of England, has the blazon of a bull passant, within a black border, bezantee armed, in gold. The
first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of
Randolphi Cole, which was dated
1148, The Winton Rolls of Hampshire, during the reign of
King John of England, known as 'Lackland' 1199 - 1216.