Eaken

This unusual surname is English. Recorded in the spellings of Eaken, Eakin, Edkin. Edkins, Eadekin, Ekins, and others, this is an English surname of some antiquity. It can be either a patronymic or a metronymic, that is to say derived from the personal name of the first bearer's father or mother. As a patronymic it is a developed form of Adam, from the Hebrew word which means "red earth", plus the diminutive medieval suffix of "kin," with the suffix "s", a reduced form of "son of". As a metronymic its derivation is quite different. Here it is from the personal name Eda, a medieval short form of the Olde English pre 7th century female name Eadgyw, meaning "prosperity battle". As a personal name Edekin Gomey is recorded in the charters known as the Hundred Rolls of the county of Oxfordshire in 1279, whilst as a surname Joan Edkin, presumably a woman, although Joan may be a misspelling of Johan, is recorded in the same Rolls. Later examples include Mary Eakyn who married Thomas Marriott by special licence in London in 1598, and Samuel Ekin who married Elizabeth Brown at St James Clerkenwell in 1730. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Elena Edkynes. This was dated 1327, in the "Subsidy Rolls" of Somerset, during the reign of King Edward 111rd, known as "The Father of the Navy" 1327 - 1377. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.