Dorkin Family History

From the Middle English personal name Dorkin, a pet form of Old English Deōr, a variant of Dēor with a shift of stress in the diphthong. It may have been interchangeable with its twin form Derkin, also Darkin.

Alternatively, it is a modern spelling of Dawkin, a well-attested surname in WR Yorks and Durham and in Essex, where Dorkin and Dorking also occur.

The change in pronunciation by which /r/ was lost before a consonant is not generally known before the 19th century, so the 1763 example may belong under (1).

See Dorking.