Last name: Huggins This most interesting surname is a patronymic form of "Huggin", which itself is a diminutive from the Old French personal name "Hugh", which was introduced into England by the Normans after the Conquest of 1066. Hugh is a contracted form of any of the various Germanic compound names with the first element "hug", heart, mind, spirit. This personal name was popular among the Normans in England, due to the fame of St. Hugh of Lincoln (1140 - 1200), who established the first Carthusian monastery in England. Thus the surname is composed of "Hug", the pet form of Hugh; the diminutive suffix "-in"; and the patronymic ending "-s", son of; hence "son of little Hugh". The surname is first recorded in the early 14th Century (see below), while other early examples include: Amisia Hugines, recorded in the Subsidy Rolls of Worcestershire in 1327; and John Hugyn, mentioned in the Feet of Fines of Staffordshire in 1337. Samuel Huggins (1811 - 1885), was President of the Liverpool Architectural Society, and the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings was founded largely due to his papers against "restorations" of cathedrals. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert Hugyn, which was dated 1327, in the "Subsidy Rolls of Sussex", during the reign of King Edward 111, known as "The Father of the Navy", 1327 - 1377.
Wizard28, Thank you for your response to my question, yes the name seems to indicate Sussex as the original place of origin. The demographics of the name indicate that outside of London in 1841 Norwich was the second largest population of Huggins, assuming that most people migrated to London and not away from London in the 1800's, I assumed that the Huggins migrated from Norwich to London and other parts of England including Cambridgeshire where my ancestors were from. So the name could have originated in either Norfolk or Sussex which is still East Anglia, Cambridgeshire was also part of East Anglia. Assuming that all this is correct then the Huggins were more likely to be Angles with a bit of Saxon blood mixed in. The other alternative is that the name originated in London, which would them Middle Saxons or East Saxons. They were not Normans but as you say the Norman name "Hugh" became popular around 1200 and from there developed into Huggins.
There is this theory :
Last name: Huggins
This most interesting surname is a patronymic form of "Huggin", which itself is a diminutive from the Old French personal name "Hugh", which was introduced into England by the Normans after the Conquest of 1066. Hugh is a contracted form of any of the various Germanic compound names with the first element "hug", heart, mind, spirit. This personal name was popular among the Normans in England, due to the fame of St. Hugh of Lincoln (1140 - 1200), who established the first Carthusian monastery in England. Thus the surname is composed of "Hug", the pet form of Hugh; the diminutive suffix "-in"; and the patronymic ending "-s", son of; hence "son of little Hugh". The surname is first recorded in the early 14th Century (see below), while other early examples include: Amisia Hugines, recorded in the Subsidy Rolls of Worcestershire in 1327; and John Hugyn, mentioned in the Feet of Fines of Staffordshire in 1337. Samuel Huggins (1811 - 1885), was President of the Liverpool Architectural Society, and the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings was founded largely due to his papers against "restorations" of cathedrals. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert Hugyn, which was dated 1327, in the "Subsidy Rolls of Sussex", during the reign of King Edward 111, known as "The Father of the Navy", 1327 - 1377.
Wizard28, Thank you for your response to my question, yes the name seems to indicate Sussex as the original place of origin. The demographics of the name indicate that outside of London in 1841 Norwich was the second largest population of Huggins, assuming that most people migrated to London and not away from London in the 1800's, I assumed that the Huggins migrated from Norwich to London and other parts of England including Cambridgeshire where my ancestors were from. So the name could have originated in either Norfolk or Sussex which is still East Anglia, Cambridgeshire was also part of East Anglia. Assuming that all this is correct then the Huggins were more likely to be Angles with a bit of Saxon blood mixed in. The other alternative is that the name originated in London, which would them Middle Saxons or East Saxons. They were not Normans but as you say the Norman name "Hugh" became popular around 1200 and from there developed into Huggins.
Regards Thomasreg.