Darkins - Name

This interesting name is a fine example of the Medieval system of creating new surnames from existent popular personal names. In this case the development is from David, a name popular with the Crusaders in the Eleventh Century, from which was developed the nicknames of Dave, Day, Daw, and Dawe plus 'kin' meaning 'son or little'. The name David means 'the good friend' or (possibly) 'the commander' - from the Ancient Biblical Hebrew. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Johannes Dawkyn. which was dated 1379 the Yorkshire Poll Tax Records. during the reign of King Richard 11 Richard of Bordeaux 1378 - 1400. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.