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Origin / History of the Perks Name

This most interesting surname is of Old French and early medieval English origin.  It is composed of a medieval diminutive of the Greek name ‘Peter’ or the French variant ‘Piers, Pierre’, plus the suffix ‘kin’, although in this case the suffix itself has been further altered by local dialects to its present form.  Spelling forms include: Parks; Parkin; Parkyns; Perkin; and Perkins, the plurals being patronymics i.e. 'Son of Peter'.  First recorded as a surname in the 14^th Century, its popularity expanded rapidly.  Early examples include: Robert Parkyn of Stafford in the county rolls of 1327; with Walter Perkyns, in the Subsidy Rolls of the County of Worcester, 1327; and Maud Parkyns of Warwick and John Perkyn of Somerset, in the Hundred Rolls of their respective counties in 1380.  Later recordings included: John Perkins who married Penelope Vaughan at the famous church of St Dunstans in the East, Stepney, in 1599; and Sir William Perkins (also spelt Parkyns), who was executed on Tower Hill in 1696 for planning to assassinate King William III.

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