Larkins
A surname usually explained as a diminutive or family form of Lawrence, not as a direct reference to the bird.
The #5,470 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 48,568 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Most of the historical surname books treat Larkins as a form of Lawrence, with the ending -kin or -ins giving a sense of “little Lawrence” or “son/descendant of Lawrence.” Some older writers proposed a connection with the bird lark, but later authorities explicitly reject that explanation for this surname. In Irish contexts, the name can also appear as an anglicized form related to Gaelic forms such as Ó Lorcáin / similar Larkin families, so the surname may have more than one source.
History
The surname is attested in medieval and early modern England in forms such as Larkin and Larkins, and it appears in surname lists alongside Lawson and other Lawrence derivatives. Irish genealogical works also record Larkins as an established surname in Ireland, reflecting both native Gaelic developments and later English spelling influence. By the 19th century, the Lawrence-based explanation had become the standard scholarly view in English surname dictionaries.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One 19th-century writer jokingly connected Larkins with the bird lark, but later surname scholars specifically said that derivation was wrong.
From the historical record
“LARDNER. A swine-herd. LARKINS. From lark, a sweet, shrill, musical bird, and kin, a child. Learcean or Leargan, a sloping, green, side of a hill, near the sea. from Lear, Gaelic, the sea. LAROCHE and LAROQUE. (Fr.) The rock, a lonely mass of stone. JDe La Roche, " from the rock." LARRY. Supposed to be an…”
— An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names