This most interesting surname is a patronymic form of "Huggin", which itself is a diminutive from the Old French personal name "Hugh", which was introduced into England by the Normans after the Conquest of 1066. Hugh is a contracted form of any of the various Germanic compound names with the first element "hug", heart, mind, spirit. This personal name was popular among the Normans in England, due to the fame of St. Hugh of Lincoln (1140 - 1200), who established the first Carthusian monastery in England. Thus the surname is composed of "Hug", the pet form of Hugh; the diminutive suffix "-in"; and the patronymic ending "-s", son of; hence "son of little Hugh". The surname is first recorded in the early 14th Century (see below), while other early examples include: Amisia Hugines, recorded in the Subsidy Rolls of Worcestershire in 1327; and John Hugyn, mentioned in the Feet of Fines of Staffordshire in 1337. Samuel Huggins (1811 - 1885), was President of the Liverpool Architectural Society, and the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings was founded largely due to his papers against "restorations" of cathedrals. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert Hugyn, which was dated 1327, in the "Subsidy Rolls of Sussex", 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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