Skip to main content

Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • Probably an altered spelling of the English surnames Bodkin or Batkin. The first is from Middle English bodkin, bodekin ‘dagger’, ‘short pointed weapon’, and hence a metonymic occupational name for a maker or seller of such weapons; the second is a pet form of the personal name Bate, itself a reduced form of Bartholomew.

Join the Family

Your partner in parenting from baby name inspiration to college planning.

Subscribe