1,299 Global TOMKINS Family Members

TOMKINS Family History

This interesting surname is derived from the popular medieval given name Thomas, which is a biblical name, originally an Aramaic byname meaning "Twin", and borne by one of the disciples of Christ, best known for his scepticism about Christ's resurrection. In this instance Tomkin is the diminutive ("little") of Thomas, with the suffix "s" denoting the patronymic; thus, "son of Tomkin". In the modern idiom the variants include Tompkin, T(h)omkyn, T(h)om(p)sett and Tom(p)kiss. The name does not appear in England before the Norman Conquest of 1066, and seems to have found particular favour with Crusaders returning from the Holy Land in the 11th and 12th Centuries...