This interesting surname is an occupational name for a deacon, or perhaps for his servant. The derivation is from the Old English pre 7th Century "deakne", Old French "diacne" meaning deacon. Both are ultimately from the Late Latin "diaconus", Greek "diakonos" meaning servant. In the church a decon is one ranking immediately below an ordained minister but in Scotland it is the president of an incorporated trade or body of craftsmen in a burgh. The surname is first recorded in the early 13th Century, (see below). One Richard le Deken, appears in the 1247 Assize Court Rolls of Bedfordshire and John Dekne, is noted in the 1327 Subsidy Rolls of Sussex. In the modern idiom the surname has four spelling variations Deacon, Deakan, Deakin and Deakins. On June 15th 1676, John Deakin married Elizabeth Green in Allhallows London Wall. The marriage of William Deakin and Ann Slatt took place at St. Margarets, Westminster, London, on January 17th 1677. Mary Deakin married Charles While on May 20th 1690, at Charterhouse Chappel, Finsbury, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Richard le Diakne, which was dated 1212, The Pipe Rolls of Suffolk, during the reign of King John, known as "Lackland", 1199 - 1216. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.