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I have traced my family history back to a Thomas Elkyn who was
living at Trentham,
in north Staffordshire, in the early 16th century, less than five miles from where I was born.
The earliest records I have found indicate that a William Elkyne was a priest in the same area in 1365, when he is recorded as resigning as the rector at Chetwynd and being admitted to the vicarage at Eccleshall. Other early references to the name occur in Northampton in 1385/6 when John Elkyn the younger is named in a land transfer, and in Navestock, Essex, where the parish registers record the marriage of a George Elkin to Margaret Palmer in 1540. The map shows the distribution of the occurences of the name, based upon the information I have collected. This shows that north Staffordshire is a likely source of origin. A similar map for the surname Elkins, shows a very different pattern, with the majority of the early references being in Wiltshire and the surrounding counties. This suggests that the names are not linked in any way and are quite seperate in origin, although there are several cases of "cross-over" between the two spellings in later years. |
The meaning of the name is not clear - one possible derivation is that Elkin is a patronym, the suffix "-kin" meaning "the son of" in Old English. In this case the father's name is believed to be Elias, an old personal name meaning "God the Lord". So Elkin is "Elias's Kin" - the son of Elias.
It is possible that the name was introduced to England as a personal name at the time of the Crusades. When the English knights and their followers returned, the bible stories had become far more real to them, their knowledge was greater and their minds were full of new ideas. Among the new names that these Crusaders brought into fashion was that of the prophet Elias or Elijah. They spoke it in the old French form, Elie or Elis, and as a result Elcock, Ellis, Elliot and Elkin became regular Christian names for a time, before being adopted as patronymic surnames when these began to be used.
I've collected much information on Elkin families worldwide, including all entries from the 1881 Census of England, Scotland and Wales, all entries from the General Register Office registers from 1837 to 1920 for England and Wales, and many entries from the 1851 Census of England and the International Genealogical Index. Some of this is presented graphically here. I have also done some work to estimate the size of the Elkin population in England and Wales in the 19th century. This can be found here.
I'm always pleased to exchange details with other researchers. Please click here to contact me by email.
All Elkin entries from the General Register Office, London, registers from 1837 to 1959 have been submitted to the FreeBMD project, and can be searched online in their database. These registers cover births marriages and deaths in England and Wales only.
Click here for a list of other surnames of interest to me.
 Last updated: 6th March 2006 |
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©John Elkin 1999-2006
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