Saturday, February 09, 2008

my last name ia WATKINS - and a mini FAQ

99.999% of WATKINS are unrelated because this surname is a patronymic

Watkins
English (also frequent in Wales): patronymic from the personal name Watkin.
Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4

Watkin

English: either a revival of the medieval pet name (Wat + the hypocoristic suffix -kin), or a transferred use of the surname derived from it.
A Dictionary of First Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0192800507

Watkin
English: from a pet form of Wat(t), a short form of Walter.
Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4

Wat
English: the usual medieval short form of Walter, based on the normal vernacular pronunciation, Water, with a short “a”.

Walter
English, German, and Scandinavian: from an old Germanic personal name composed of the elements wald rule + heri, hari army, warrior.
There was a native Old English form of the name, Wealdhere, but it was replaced at the time of the Conquest by the Continental forms in use among the Normans.
In medieval Germany, the most famous bearer was the minnesinger Walther von der Vogelweide (c.1170-c.1230).
Variants: German: Walther. Scandinavian: Valter.

Cognates: Scottish Gaelic: Bhàtair, Bhaltair. Welsh: Gwallter. Dutch: Wouter, Wolter. Low German: Wolter. French: Gaut(h)ier. Italian, Spanish: Gualtiero.

Short forms: English: Wat (medieval, occasionally revived); Walt (esp. U.S.). Dutch: Weit.
Pet form: English: Watkin.
A Dictionary of First Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0192800507

WIKI
In Wales, before the 1536 Act of Union, with England, all Welsh people used patronyms and matronym as the sole way of naming people.

welsh patronymics - Google Search

  • Naming patterns can help you learn more about your family’s cultural and ethnic background.
  • You might find alternate name spellings which are helpful when searching for family records.
with thanks to the Ancestry
Learning Center - Home
and see for example :-

Search Results
12,252 1901 England Census
11,783 1881 England Census
9,916 1891 England Census
7,868 1871 England Census
7,722 1861 England Census
7,316 1901 Wales Census
6,727 1851 England Census
6,505 1881 Wales Census
5,976 1891 Wales Census
5,592 1841 England Census
5,220 1871 Wales Census
4,963 1861 Wales Census
4,579 1851 Wales Census
3,653 1841 Wales Census
111 1901 Scotland Census


51,593 1930 United States Federal Census
» View all 389,385 ancestry.com census results

Birth, Marriage & Death totals 397,050
49,342 England & Wales, FreeBMD Birth Index: 1837-1983
40,490 Social Security Death Index
29,595 England & Wales, FreeBMD Marriage Index: 1837-1983
27,976 England & Wales, FreeBMD Death Index: 1837-1983
26,182 United States Obituary Collection

» View all 397,050 results

Surnames of England and Wales:
"an extract of an Office of National Statistics database, and contains a list of surnames in use in England, Wales and the Isle of Mann in September 2002. The list contains almost 270,000 surnames, shared by 54.4 million people.

SurnameCountRanking
WATKINS 32401 199


"WATKINS "family history society" - Google Search



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