This unusual name is one of the many variant surnames generated by the popular male personal name 'Hugh', which was introduced into Britain by the Normans after the Conquest of 1066 as 'Hu(gh)e'. The personal name is of Germanic origin and is a short form of any of the various compound names with the first element 'hug', meaning heart, mind, spirit, eg., 'Hubert' and 'Howard'. The popularity of the name was partly due to the fame of St. Hugh of Lincolnshire (1140 - 1200), who was born in Burgundy and later established the first Carthusian monastery in England. 'Hukins' is one of the patronymics from a diminutive, 'Hughkin', of 'Hugh'; others are 'Hewlin(g)s', 'Hullins', 'Hookins', 'Huggins' and 'Howkins', all meaning 'son of little (or son of) Hugh'. William Hukins married Alice Chamberlaine on the 1st February 1635 at St. Dunstan's in Stepney, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John de Huking, rector of Morestone, which was dated 1290, in the Ecclesiastical Records of Kent, during the reign of King Edward 1, known as the Hammer of the Scots, 1272 - 1307. 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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