Perkins is a surname derived from the Anglo-Saxon corruption of the kin of Pierre (from Pierre kin to Pierrekin to Perkins), introduced into England by the Norman Conquest. It is found throughout mid and southern England.
Another derivation comes from the Welsh Perthyn, relative or belonging to a particular person or family, and also thought to be the Anglicized form of Peredur, from Medieval Welsh.
People named Perkins include:
- Al Perkins, musician-guitarist
- Anthony Perkins (1932–1992), American actor
- Benjamin Douglas Perkins (1774–1810), son of Elisha Perkins, bookseller and propagandist of therapy with "Perkins tractors"
- Bill Perkins (disambiguation)
- Bishop Perkins (1787–1866), U.S. Representative from New York
- Bishop W. Perkins (1841–1894), U.S. Representative and Senator from Kansas
- Brian Perkins, anchor, newsreader on BBC Radio 4 - New Zealand
- Carl Perkins, musician
- Carl Christopher Perkins, politician, Kentucky Representative
- Carl Dewey Perkins (1912–1984), politician, Kentucky Representative
- Charles A. Perkins, American lawyer
- Charles Callahan Perkins (1823–1886), author
- Charles L. Perkins, author
- Charles N. Perkins, Australian football and political figure
- Charles S. Perkins, American baseball player
- Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860–1935), American sociologist, writer and utopian feminist
- Cyril Perkins (born 1911), English cricketer
- Daryl Perkins, Australian track cyclist
- Don Perkins, National Football League running back for the Dallas Cowboys
- Edward J. Perkins, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N.
- Edwin Perkins, various including:
- Edwin Perkins (inventor), American inventor of Kool-Aid
- Edwin King Perkins, British Conservative Party Member of Parliament
- Ed Perkins, Canadian mathematician
- Elisha Perkins (1741–1799), physician
- Elizabeth Perkins, actress
- Emily Perkins, actress
- Emily Perkins (novelist)
- Emily Pitkin Perkins, wife of Connecticut Governor and US Senator Roger Sherman Baldwin
- Frances Perkins, labor leader and U.S. Secretary of Labor
- Frank Perkins (disambiguation)
- Frederic Beecher Perkins (1828-1899), United States editor, librarian and writer
- Geoffrey Perkins (1953–2008), comedy producer, writer, and performer - BBC
- George Perkins (disambiguation)
- Gil Perkins, Australian film and television actor
- Jack Perkins (disambiguation)
- Jacob Perkins (1766–1849), inventor: bank-note engraving, engravings transfer, bathometer, pleometer
- John Perkins (disambiguation)
- Henry Farnham Perkins (1877–1956), American zoologist and eugenicist
- Ian Perkins, American musician/guitarist now in the band The Horrible Crowes
- Isabel Weld Perkins, socialite philanthropist
- Kendrick Perkins, player for the National Basketball Association Oklahoma City Thunder
- Kieren Perkins, Olympic gold medal swimmer
- Larry Perkins, Formula 1 race car driver
- Laurence Perkins, British classical bassoonist
- Luther Perkins (1928–1968), guitarist, including backing guitarist for Johnny Cash
- Marlin Perkins, ecologist and naturalist
- Maxwell Perkins, editor for F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Thomas Wolfe
- Michael J. Perkins, American Medal of Honor recipient
- Millie Perkins, actor
- Pinetop Perkins (1913–2011), musician - blues pianist
- Ray Perkins (disambiguation)
- Sam Perkins (born 1961), retired National Basketball Association player
- Shane Perkins, Australian track cyclist
- Stephanie Perkins, author
- Stephen Perkins, musician, drummer, and songwriter - Jane's Addiction
- Sue Perkins, television presenter, actress, and writer
- Tex Perkins, Australian singer-songwriter
- Thomas Handasyd Perkins (1764–1854), businessman, philanthropist
- Tom Perkins, founder/principal venture capital firm Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers
- Tony Perkins (evangelical Christian figure)
- Tony Perkins (television meteorologist)
- Tracy Perkins, courtmartialed US Army sergeant
- Troy Perkins, soccer player for the Portland Timbers
- Warren Perkins (born 1924), American professional basketball player
- William Perkins (Puritan) (1558–1602), preacher, Elizabethan puritan
- William T. Perkins, Jr., United States Marine and Medal of Honor recipient
Fictional characters include:
- Ma Perkins, star of the radio soap opera from 1933 to 1960
- Perkins, character in the Harry Potter books
Read more about Perkins: See Also
Famous quotes containing the word perkins:
“The mother as a social servant instead of a home servant will not lack in true mother duty.... From her work, loved and honored though it is, she will return to her home life, the child life, with an eager, ceaseless pleasure, cleansed of all the fret and fraction and weariness that so mar it now.”
—Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860–1935)
“I have learned more about love, selflessness and human understanding in this great adventure in the world of AIDS than I ever did in the cut-throat, competitive world in which I spent my life.”
—Anthony Perkins (1932–1992)
“Architecture might be more sportive and varied if every man built his own house, but it would not be the art and science that we have made it; and while every woman prepares food for her own family, cooking can never rise beyond the level of the amateur’s work.”
—Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860–1935)