Recorded in the spellings of Wilkerson and Wickerson, this is an English surname. It is formed from the short form of the personal name William plus the genitive "-er" and the diminutives "kin" and "son". The name is therefore a patronymic of William, itself derived from the pre 10th century Olde French personal name Willhelm composed of the German elements "wil" meaning will or desire and "helm", a helmet or protector. The name although not as a surname, is first recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Robertus filius Willelmi. The petform of Wilechin appears in the 1166 Pipe Rolls of the county of Northumberland and the surname Wilekin in the Pipe Rolls of Hampshire, in 1180. The patronymic form emerges in the early 14th Century (see below), and other examples include on November 10th 1568 Margaret Wilkerson married Richard Slater at Keighley, Yorkshire and Thomas Wickerson of Oxford, in 1582. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Thomas Wilkyson. which was dated 1332, The Subsidy Rolls of Cumberland. during the reign of King Edward III, 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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