Alkins

This interesting name, recorded as Alkin, Alkins and Allkins, is of early medieval English origin, and is the patronymic form of the surname Alkin, the "s" being a reduced form of "son of". Alkin is one of the diminutive surnames generated by the medieval given name "Al", itself a short form of a male personal name, usually Al(l)an or Alexander. The former is a Celtic given name of great antiquity, thought to derive principally from the Gaelic "ailin", a diminutive form of "ail", rock, while Alexander is of ancient Greek origin, from "Alexandros", usually taken to mean "defender of men", from the Greek "alexein", to defend, with "aner, andros", man. One Alkin the Jonge (younger) is recorded in the Assize Court Rolls of Cheshire in 1296. Examples of the surname from English Church Registers include: the marriage of Thomas Alkyns and Mary Newman at St. Dunstan's, Stepney, London, on July 15th 1617; and the christening of Judith, daughter of William and Lora Alkins, at St. Petrox, Dartmouth, in Devonshire, on August 15th 1641. The Coat of Arms granted to an Alkins family depicts three bars azure in chief three torteaux on a silver shield. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John Alkyn, which was dated 1307, in the "Parliamentary Writs", Herefordshire, during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.