Haskins - Meno

This interesting surname with variant spellings Haskings, Askins, Haskins, etc. is a patronymic from the diminutive of the Old Norse personal name Asketill, composed of the elements "oss, ass" meaning "god" plus "ketill" kettle or sacrificial Cauldron". The surname dates back to the early 16th Century, (see below). Church recordings include one Lucia Haskins who married William Barrett on December 6th 1607, at St. Magdalene's, Bermondsey, Mary daughter of John and Anne Haskyns, was christened on December 19th 1617, at St. Dunstan's, Stepney. Richard, son of Philip Haskins was christened in January 1631 at St. Margaret's, Westminster, and William Haskins married Marye Hearne on August 11th 1664, at St. Gregory by St. Paul's, London. One William Haskins, aged 20, a famine emigrant, sailed from Liverpool aboard the "New-York" bound for New York on July 13th 1846. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John Haskyn, which was dated 1524, The Subsidy Rolls of Suffolk, during the reign of King Henry V111, "Good King Hal", 1509 - 1547. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.