Wilkins

//ˈwɪlkɪnz// name

name ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname originating as a patronymic. countable, uncountable

    "Kash Patel, born to Gujarati parents in New York in 1980, was sworn in as the ninth director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Friday, in the presence of his girlfriend Alexis Wilkins and his family."

  2. 2
    A surname originating as a patronymic.; An English surname from Middle English. countable, uncountable
  3. 3
    A surname originating as a patronymic.; A surname from Welsh. countable, uncountable
  4. 4
    A township in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. named after William Wilkins. countable, uncountable

Example

More examples

"The prime minister designate's retort came after the U.S. ambassador to Canada, David Wilkins, made a comment earlier this week disputing Canada's assertion of sovereignty over Arctic waters the United States considers international territory."

Etymology

In most cases, the surname derives from the Middle English Wilkin, from Will, diminutive of William, + -kin (“small”). However, in the case of a formidable number of those that bear the surname 'Wilkins', the name derives from an earlier form Welsh Wilkyn, itself from Middle English Wylcolyna or Witcoline, from Latin Wintona, compare Winton.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.