Bodkin Surname Meaning & Origin
What the Bodkin last name means, where the surname began and how it spread.
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Meaning and origin of the Bodkin last name
Meaning of the Bodkin last name: little Baldwin. Bodkin is an Irish surname of Anglo-Norman origin, from a pet form of the given name Baldwin. The Bodkins were one of the fourteen Tribes of Galway, the merchant families who ran the town in the Middle Ages. This last name is still found in Galway and across Ireland.
Arms associated with the Bodkin name
Coats of arms associated with the Bodkin surname follow Irish heraldry, each set out in a short blazon.
Get your full Bodkin family history
This is only a glimpse of the Bodkin story. The full Bodkin history report goes much deeper into where the name began, who carried it and how the family spread, and it comes with a museum-style painted Bodkin coat of arms. Get the full Bodkin report.
Bodkin name FAQ
What does the Bodkin name mean?
Little Baldwin. Common variants include Bodekin.
Where does the Bodkin surname come from?
It originates in Ireland, and is also found in the United States, Canada and Australia.
Is there a Bodkin coat of arms?
Arms were granted to individuals rather than to everyone with a surname. Herald Lab paints a personalized Bodkin coat of arms in museum style, based on historic heraldry.
Sources: MacLysaght, The Surnames of Ireland; Patrick Woulfe, Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and Surnames (1923).