Hankin

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A family name of English origin, borne by people who share this surname across generations
2. A surname of English origin carried by many individuals, sometimes used as a family or personal name
3. An English family name found in records of various regions, given to people with this lineage

Etymology: "Hankin" is a diminutive name formed from "Hann," a short form of "John" (or of "Hans," the German equivalent), with the suffix "-kin," which English added to words to mean "little." The same pattern produced names like Perkin, Simkin and Wilkin, and by the Middle Ages "-kin" was a productive way to turn a personal name into a pet form. Here the result is a given name, not a common noun, so the "little John" sense is preserved in the name itself rather than in any dictionary sense of the word. Names built this way were typically nicknames for a child or a familiar son, and many surnames of the same type came to be inherited as family names over the centuries.