Eakins

This unusual name, with the modern variants Eakin and Ekins, can be either a patronymic or a metronymic i.e. derived from the personal name of the first bearer's father or mother. As a patronymic it derives from "(a)ed" a medieval pet form of Adam (from the Hebrew meaning "red earth"), plus the diminutive suffix "kin" and "s", a reduced form of "son of". As a metronymic it derives from Eda, a medieval short form of the Olde English pre 7th century female name Eadgyw meaning "prosperity battle". One, Edekin Gomey is recorded in the 1279 "Hundred Rolls of Oxfordshire", and a Joan Edekin appears in the same Rolls. The metronymic form emerges in the early 14th century, (see below). In the modern idiom the name is spelt Edkins, Eakin(s) or Ekins. The Coat of Arms granted to the family of Weston Favill, county Nottingham has the blazon of a silver shield thereon a black bend lozengy between two red cross crosslets fitchee. The crest being a lion's gamb holding a red cross crosslet fitchee bendwise. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Elena Edkynes, which was dated 1327, in the "Subsidy Rolls of Somerset" during the reign of King Edward 111, known as "The Father of the Navy" 1327 - 1377. 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.