Higgins
A common English and Irish surname, usually understood as “son of Higg” or “son of Hugh.”
The #400 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 3,869 Americans shares it.
Etymology
In English usage, Higgins is most often explained as a patronymic formed from the diminutive Higg or Higgin, which itself is usually traced to the medieval pet forms of Richard, especially Hick, or sometimes to Hugh. In older surname books, this was often described as “son of Higg” or “little Higg,” with Higg/Heckin treated as short forms of Richard in some dialects. In Irish records, Higgins can also represent an anglicized form of a Gaelic surname, so the name does not have a single origin everywhere it appears.
History
The name is well established in England by the late medieval period and spread widely in surname form through patronymic usage. Nineteenth-century writers disagreed about whether the English line came primarily from Richard-type nicknames or from Hugh; both possibilities were discussed. In Ireland, Higgins became common as an anglicized surname, especially in areas where Gaelic names were rendered into English spelling.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Early surname scholars loved to connect Higgins with nursery nicknames like Hick and Higg, treating it as part of a whole family of names including Higgs, Higginson, and Dickson.
From the historical record
“Hick and Dick were the nuks * of Richard in the hereditary surname period, and that Hick was lazified into Higg (just as Dicks became also Diggs) ; then that the diminutive of Hi^ became Hi^in, whence the patronymics of Higgins and H^ginson. Dick stuck more closely to the sharpened form and became Dickin, whence…”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances