Wilkens Last Name: Meaning and Heraldic Roots

Whether you spell it Wilkens or Wilkins, the story begins in the same place. Its meaning, shared with Wilkins, is “The son of little Will, a pet form of William (resolution, helmet)”. Only a small detail separates the spellings: Wilkens has “e” where Wilkins has “i”. Regional accents shaped spellings long before dictionaries fixed them.

Wilkens ranked 8,114 in the 2010 US Census, with 4,086 people answering to the name. It sits within the 10,000 most common last names in the country.

Heraldry is personal: arms associated with the Wilkins surname were borne by specific families, and sharing the name does not mean sharing the blazon. Get the complete Wilkens report, with a museum-style coat of arms.