This surname is of early medieval English origin, and is a variant of the more familiar Adkins, itself a patronymic of Adkin, from "Ad(e)", a pet form of the male given name Adam, with the addition of the diminutive suffix "-kin". Adam derives ultimately from a Hebrew name meaning "red-earth" (possibly referring to the earth from which God formed the first man in the Old Testament). The "d" of "Ad(e)" was sharpened to "t" in certain areas as a result of dialectal influences. One Ade filius (son of) Turst was noted in the 1191 Pipe Rolls of Norfolk, and a John Adekyn appears in Records of the Estates of Crowland Abbey, Cambridgeshire, dated 1296. William Atkyns, noted int he 1326 Subsidy Rolls of Worcestershire, was an early bearer of the patronymic which, in the modern idiom, is spelt: Adkins, Atkins, Atkyns, Attkins and Hadkins, the "H" in the last mentioned example being a dialectal intrusion. On November 3rd 1745, Elizabeth Hadkins and John Davis were married at St. Matthew, Walsall, Staffordshire. The Coat of Arms most associated with the name is an ermine shield, with two azure lions rampant in chief, the Crest being a red lion rampant supporting a flagstaff and ropes proper flying a silver flag charged with a red cross. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John Adekynes, which was dated 1332, in the "Subsidy Rolls of Warwickshire", during the reign of King Edward 111, known as "The Father of the Navy", 1327 - 1377. 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.

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