Genealogy is fun

The family has always considered the surname Jenkins to be of German origin. In researching the origin of the name, all evidence indicates that “Jenkins” is of Welsh origin.

John. This Baptismal name, which is of Norman introduction, has rarely passed into a surname. It has been however, the source, in various modified forms, of a considerable number of names. Its immediate derivative, Johnson, and its Welsh genitive form, Jones, substantiate this assertion; but we have besides Johns, Johnes, Joanes, Johncock, Janson, Jannings, Jennings, Jenks, Jenkyn, Jenkins, and Jinkins, Jenkinson, and perhaps Janes and Jenson. Painting Denver . The prevalence of Jenkin(s in Mid- and South-Wales is mainly due to the great Flemish Immigration into Pembrokeshire. Jenkins is a variant of Jenkin which is a variant of Jan. Jan being the common Flemish and Dutch form of John.

Also found were the following: 1) Jenkins , Jenkinson, Jenks (Welsh, Scottish, English) The son of little Jen or Jenk, pet variants of John (gracious gift of Jehovah). 2) Jenkins A distinctive Welsh name: “son of Jen,” a variant of John. The name Jenkins means literally “the kin, or descendants of Jen” and is equivalent in meaning to the name Jennings. Jenkins is sometimes spelled: Jengkyne.

Jenkintown, in Montgomery County, was named for the Welsh pioneer, William Jenkins who settled here before 1697. Stevens point hotel . atlanta seo company . The place was called Jenkins’-town as early as 1759.

Article from ” Pennsylvania Place Names” by Abraham Howry Espenshade.

Other Discussions on the Origin of the Jenkins Surname

Although the Jenkins surname is most common in Cymru (Wales), there is no “J” in the old Welsh alphabet. The name Jenkins is derived from Flemish, the “J” and “kin” being distinctive to Flemish, and was brought to Wales in 1066, when there was a large Flemish “invasion” (migration) in the Cardiff area of Wales (the same time Wlliam the Conquerer invaded England).*There was some previous usuage of a similar diminutives of John in England and Wales prior to the Flemish invasion. In England, it took the form of the given name ‘Jankin’ and in Wales of the name ‘Siencyn’, which later became patronymic surnames.**However, the “J” and the “kin” are definately derived from the Flemish and probably corrupted any Welsh or English surnames because of the large Flemish influence after 1066.Of course the most prevalent surname in Wales is Jones. Go figure.Steve Jenkins* The Penguin Dictionary of Surnames, Basil Cottle, Penguin Books Ltd., 1967. ** The Surnames of Wales, John and Sheila Rowlands, Federation of Family History Societies (Publications), Ltd., 1996.Families of Unusual Occurrence in Original States

The following article is taken from the book “Descendants of Original Stocks and New Immigrants”.

Many forces were at work to compel individual and groups of families to move from their homelands to the new land and to influence their growth once there. Religious disaffection, desire for adventure, hopes for a new start and economic opportunity compelled some, not others. Time of arrival, good fortune, family size and proportion of male heirs (in addition to name changes) dictated the statistical increase of names of some families over others.

Thus we find that each of the states had its unusually strong popular names and those somewhat rarer names which found more fertile soil there than elsewhere. Without trying to enumerate the causes in each case, we here consider exceptional family concentrations by way of depicting another aspect of the phenomena of family growth in the American environment. In strengths (above 1 per 1,000) as high or higher than in the homeland, and second, the names which attained unaccountable national strength (roughly .5 to 1 per 1,000) due to strength in the state. Together these give a sampling profile of the family makeup of the individual states, arranged alphabetically.

VIRGINIA ( and WEST VIRGINIA ). (1) Carter, Edwards, Jenkins, Mason, West. (2) Booker, Burtis, Butt, Capp, Chatham, Childress, Dodson, Fentress, Harrison, Hundly, Hurst, Keeling, Land, Randolph, Seay, Tally, Vanmeter, Walthall, Whitehurst, Woodson, Worsham.

Welsh names excepted, which did not achieve American strengths above those in Wales.