The name of the creek comes from the Lenape, meaning "snake dens".[3] It comes from the Lenape word Gookcalicunk (pronounced "Gook Cal-eek Unk), which means "Snake Sleep Place" in English. The Lenape considered modern East Cocalico, West Cocalico, Clay, Warwick, Elizabeth, and Penn townships in Lancaster County, Mill Creek Township in Lebanon County, and the Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area as part of Gookcalicunk.
Cocalico Creek flows south for 10 miles (16 km), then southwest 16 miles (26 km). The Cocalico Creek watershed has a total area of 140 square miles (360 km2) and is part of the larger Chesapeake Baydrainage basin via the Susquehanna River.[4]
^U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National MapArchived 2016-06-30 at the Wayback Machine, accessed August 8, 2011
^Shaw, Lewis C. (June 1984). Pennsylvania Gazetteer of Streams Part II (Water Resources Bulletin No. 16). Prepared in Cooperation with the United States Department of the Interior Geological Survey (1st ed.). Harrisburg, PA: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Environmental Resources.