Skip to content

The surname Wilkins

A patronymic surname, carried by 58,634 people in the United States.

Pronounced /ˈwɪlkɪnz/ 2 syllables Soundex W425

Wilkins: #570 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#10,001Dubon Wilkins #570, 58,634 people Wilkins: #570 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott Wilkins #570, 58,634 people
Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Wilkins is more common than 99.6% of them.

Origin

In most cases, the surname derives from the Middle English Wilkin, from Will, diminutive of William, + -kin (“small”). However, in the case of a formidable number of those that bear the surname 'Wilkins', the name derives from an earlier form Welsh Wilkyn, itself from Middle English Wylcolyna or Witcoline, from Latin Wintona, compare Winton.

Wilkins is a patronymic surname: formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 58,634 people named Wilkins in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 5,266 Americans. That is up 4.6% since 2000, when the Census counted 56,068.

#570
rank among US surnames
58,634
people in 2010
20
per 100,000 Americans
+4.6%
change since 2000 (was #532)
RankSurnamePeople1 in
#561Lamb59,9135,153
#562Trevino59,8825,156
#563McKenzie59,5955,181
#564Hess59,4865,190
#565Beil59,4635,192
#566Olsen59,3565,202
#567Cochran59,3505,202

Who is named Wilkins

Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

63% of people named Wilkins identified as white (not Hispanic), 31% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.7% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

  • White (not Hispanic) 63%
  • Black (not Hispanic) 31%
  • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.7%
  • Two or more races 2.4%
  • American Indian and Alaska Native 0.9%
  • Asian and Pacific Islander 0.4%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Wilkinss

14 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

  • Dominique Wilkins
    American basketball player (born 1960)
  • Mac Wilkins
    American athletics competitor, born 1950
  • Hubert Wilkins
    Australian polar explorer (1888-1958)
  • Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman
    American novelist, short story writer, poet, children's author (1852-1930)
  • Louis Wilkins
    Athletics competitor (1882-1950)
  • Roy Wilkins
    African-American NAACP leader, 1901–1981
  • Damien Wilkins
    American basketball player (born 1980)
  • Gerald Wilkins
    American basketball player (born 1963)
  • Ernie Wilkins
    American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and music arranger, 1922–1999
  • J. Ernest Wilkins Jr.
    American nuclear physicist, 1923–2011
  • Robert Wilkins
    American country blues guitarist and singer (1896-1987)
  • Christian Wilkins
    American football player (born 1995)

Notable Wilkinss come mostly from the United States (13) and Australia (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Variant spellings

Surnames that sound like Wilkins

Wilkins has the Soundex code W425, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code W425.

Questions

Where does the surname Wilkins come from?
In most cases, the surname derives from the Middle English Wilkin, from Will, diminutive of William, + -kin (“small”). However, in the case of a formidable number of those that bear the surname 'Wilkins', the name derives from an earlier form Welsh Wilkyn, itself from Middle English Wylcolyna or…
How common is the surname Wilkins?
58,634 people in the United States had the surname Wilkins in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 5,266 Americans. It ranked 570th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Wilkins?
In the 2010 Census, 63% of people named Wilkins identified as white (not Hispanic), and 31% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Wilkins?
Dominique Wilkins, American basketball player (born 1960), followed by Mac Wilkins.
Where is the surname Wilkins most common?
Wikidata records people named Wilkins in the United States and Australia.
How do you pronounce Wilkins?
Wilkins is /ˈwɪlkɪnz/, 2 syllables.
What type of surname is Wilkins?
Wilkins is a patronymic surname, formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.
Is the surname Wilkins getting more or less common?
More common. 56,068 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 58,634 in 2010, up 4.6%.
What are other spellings of Wilkins?
Wilkin.