Where the Watkins name comes from

Watkins is an English and Welsh surname that began as a patronymic from the given name Watkin. Watkin was a diminutive of Watt, also spelled Wat, which was a popular given name in Middle English. Watt itself started as a pet form of Walter.

The final letter of Watkins is the patronymic suffix -s, added to a medieval diminutive of Walter. The name passed from a given name into a surname, and its plural is Watkinses.