Elkins
An English surname that usually means “son or descendant of Ellis,” with Ellis itself coming from the medieval form of Elias/Elijah.
The #1,426 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 12,398 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Elkins is generally treated as a patronymic surname formed from the medieval personal name Ellis, with the added English diminutive/patronymic ending -kin(s). Ellis itself is commonly traced back to Elias, the Greek and Latin form of the Hebrew name Elijah, meaning “my God is Yahweh.” In older surname scholarship, Elkins is therefore usually explained as meaning “little Ellis” or “son of Ellis.”
History
The name is well established in England and appears in historical surname lists alongside other Ellis-derived forms such as Ellison and Elcock. It later spread into North America through English migration, and remains a fairly ordinary but not especially common surname. The historical sources provided consistently connect Elkins with Ellis rather than with the word “elk.”
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
19th-century surname writers explicitly grouped Elkins with the large Ellis family of surnames, not with animals or place names.
From the historical record
“Chester (1631-50X P- 73- 1763. Married- Nathaniel Elkins and Isabella Els: St. Geo. Han. Sq. i. 115. 1785. —William Else and Margaret Saul: ibid. p. 368.”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames (alternate scan)