Re: Dispelling a number of myths surrounding Scottish Clans

On Feb 23, 12:43 pm, Turenne <rick.lich...@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I'm perfectly aware of the existence of the Scottish name
'Aiken' (also Aitken, Aitkin, Aitkins, &etc.) but your name is
'Akins'.

As far as I am concerned, you can call yourself what you want, but in
the context of the Chiefs of Clans and Names in Scotland, you are not
a chief.

Why not buy a barony and invent a history to accompany it.....

http://www.cowdenknowes.com/

RL

The spelling of Scottish surnames has evolved duifferently in the
various countries where the Scots have settled. In Scotland itself
there was not until the Victorian era any attempt made at a
standardisation of surname spelling, as is shown by historical
records. The first recorded appearance of the use of my surname occurs
in the year 1405 in the court records of a Scottish sea merchant named
"John of Akyne" who sought restitution for having been kidnapped by
Laurence Tuttebury of Hull, England, who pirated his ship and goods.
Other instances of its use occur in the early records of Scotland
where the surname is seen to have undergone a variety of
transformations in spelling, accounting for the many variant forms of
the name still seen today. Among these early records we find mention
of William Ackin, who was a witness in the parish of Brechin in the
year 1476. John Eckin was a tenant under the Bishop of Aberdeen in
1511. John Ackyne served as bailie of Stirling in 1520. Robert Aykkyne
was admitted to the burgess of Aberdeen in 1529. Bessie Aiken of Leith
was found guilty of Witchcraft in 1597, narrowly escaping execution.
David Akin of Aberdeen was an early passenger to America, settling in
Newport, Rhode Island with his wife and family before 1664. A John
Aiken was among those who fought under the banner of the Covenant at
the Battle of Bothwell Bridge in 1679. Alexander Aiken of Glasgow,
Scotland, is described as a pipemaker in the Hearth Tax lists for
1690. An Alexander Aiken of Bo'ness, West Lothian, was among the Scots
colonists who took part in the ill-fated Darien expedition in 1699. On
18 October 1872 a brigantine sailing ship named "The William Akins"
carrying a cargo of pavement from the port of Belfast to the Clyde
wrecked on the rocks north of the ferry at Kyleakin, Scotland.

In Ireland the name is common only in Ulster, where the Scottish
immigrants settled in the 17th century; but here new variations in
spelling began to be seen. Aikins in Co. Armagh; Akins in Co.
Monaghan; Eaken in Co. Tyrone; Eakin in Counties Derry and Down;
Eakins in Co. Cavan; Ekin in Co. Donegal; and Ekins in Co. Sligo. In
Co. Antrim where the name was most common, it was found to be most
concentrated in the area northwest of Ballymena in the mid 19th
century. Dr. Joseph Aiken published a poetic work in 1699 entitled
"Londonderias, Or a Narrative of the Siege of Londonderry." The Clan
name under its various spellings continued to be prevalent in
Scotland, being among the 100 most frequently encountered surnames in
19th century records; ranking 90th in order of occurance, with a per
capita ratio of 20 individuals per 10,000 bearing the surname, mostly
in Lanarkshire and the surrounding counties, totaling an estomated
5,592 Scots bearing the name in one of its many forms. Variations of
the name were said to have been common in the parish of Ballantrae, as
well as in the counties of Aberdeen, Fife, Lanark, Perth, Angus,
Renfrew, Ayr, Dumbarton, Stirling and the Lothians. Among the many
friends of Scotland's national poet, Robert Burns, was an Ayrshire
gentleman by the name of Robert Aiken, who Burns mentioned in a number
of his works, including the prelude to "The Cottar's Saturday Night,"
and "Holy Willie's Prayer," as well as his "Epitaph for Robert Aiken,
Esq." and "The Farewell." When the British government began to oppress
the Scots colonists who had settled in Northern Ireland with heavy
taxes and religious persecution, many of them left fleeing to North
America as a safe haven where they might start new lives for
themselves. It was in this way that many members of the Clan Akins
came to America. Between 1717 and 1776, some 250,000 Ulster Scots left
Northern Ireland mainly for the United States. In the year 1729 more
than 6,000 arrived at the port of Philadelphia alone. 100,000 more
came to America in the two decades following the Revolutionary War.
Thus with a total of some 11 million citizens of Scottish and Ulster
Scots descent, the United States can claim to have the largest portion
of the 28 million Scots worldwide, over twice as many as in Scotland
itself, which has a total population of only five and a half million;
and it is in the United States that the Clan Akins is its strongest.
According to recently gathered statistics from the Social Security
Administration, the total number of individuals bearing the Clan name
in its three most common forms accounts forsome 53,650 persons. The
spelling of Akins being the most usual, with a count of 23,586
individuals, followed by Aiken, with 17,924 persons, and Akin with
12,140 people bearing that form of the name.


.

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