Hopkins
A surname meaning “son or descendant of Hob,” with Hob as a pet form of Robert.
The #322 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 3,189 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Hopkins is an English surname built from the medieval pet name Hob, a familiar short form of Robert, plus the diminutive or patronymic suffix -kin. In early records it appears as Hobekyn or Hopkyns, showing the same family of forms. The literal sense is therefore “little Hob” or, by extension, “son of Hob/Robert.”
History
The surname is well established in England by the medieval period and is documented in several regional and family lines. Lower notes an Oxfordshire family at Swalcliffe with the name from the 13th century, and Bardsley treats Hopkins as part of the broader set of surnames derived from Hob. Over time it became a common English and later Anglo-American surname, with many variant spellings and related names such as Hobkins and Hopkinson.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Hopkins belongs to a large nickname-and-patronymic cluster built around Robert: Hob, Hobbs, Hobson, Hopkins, and Hopkinson are all related forms.
From the historical record
“HOPGOOD. A corruption of HopAvood. HOPKINS. HOPKYNS. From Robert, through Hob, with the diminutive kin. The H.R. form is Hobekyn. A family of this name have possessed a farm at Swalclifl'e, CO. Oxon, from the XIII. cent., and nine- teen successive proprietorsbore theChristian name of John. They believe themselves…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United KingdomNotable people named Hopkins
- Anthony Hopkins (b. 1937)
- Frederick Gowland Hopkins (1861–1947)
- Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–1889)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.