Filkin History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England

The surname Filkin was a patronymic surname, created from a form of the medieval personal name Philip. It was also a habitational name from a place name in Oxfordshire. Forms of the name such as de Filking(es) are found in this region from the 12th and 13th centuries.

Early Origins of the Filkin family

The surname Filkin was first found in Oxfordshire at Filkins is a village in the civil parish of Filkins and Broughton Poggs. The village dates back to the 12th century when it was listed as Filching. The place name probably means "settlement of the family or followers of a man called Filica," from the Old English personal name + "-ingas." 1 However, the first record of the surname was found in Cheshire in the 13th century when Filkin family held estates there at that time.

Early History of the Filkin family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Filkin research. Another 165 words (12 lines of text) covering the years 1045, 1424, 1453, 1455, 1487, 1505, 1510, 1535, 1549, 1583 and 1600 are included under the topic Early Filkin History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Filkin Spelling Variations

Sound was what guided spelling in the essentially pre-literate Middle Ages, so one person's name was often recorded under several variations during a single lifetime. Also, before the advent of the printing press and the first dictionaries, the English language was not standardized. Therefore, spelling variations were common, even among the names of the most literate people. Known variations of the Filkin family name include Filkin, Filkyn, Fylkin, Fulkin, Fulkyn, Filkins, Philkin, Phylkin, Filken, Felkin and many more.

Early Notables of the Filkin family

Distinguished members of the family include

the Filkin family of Tattenhall, East Cheshire

Filkin migration to the United States +

For political, religious, and economic reasons, thousands of English families boarded ships for Ireland, Canada, the America colonies, and many of smaller tropical colonies in the hope of finding better lives abroad. Although the passage on the cramped, dank ships caused many to arrive in the New World diseased and starving, those families that survived the trip often went on to make valuable contributions to those new societies to which they arrived. Early immigrants bearing the Filkin surname or a spelling variation of the name include:

Filkin Settlers in United States in the 17th Century

Robert Filkin, who landed in Virginia in 1656 2

Filkin Settlers in United States in the 18th Century

Owen, Peter, and Robert Filkin all received land grants in Virginia between 1656 and 1713

Filkin Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

J. H. Filkin arrived by ship in San Francisco in 1852

Contemporary Notables of the name Filkin (post 1700) +

Elizabeth Jill Filkin CBE (1940-1999), British public functionary and former civil servant, Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards (1999-2002)
David Geoffrey Nigel Filkin CBE (b. 1944), Baron Filkin, a British Labour politician, Chair of the House of Lords Select Committee on Public Service and Democratic Change

Citations +

Mills, A.D., Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-19-869156-4)
Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)