This interesting surname is a patronymic form of the medieval male given name "Robin", itself a diminutive of Robert, from the short form "Rob", plus the hypocoristic suffix "-in". Robert comes from the Old German "hrodebert", originally a combination of "hrothi", and "berhta", meaning "fame-bright", and appears in the Domesday Book of 1086. Robin originally came from France and the name was made popular by Robin Goodfellow, another name for Puck, whose mischievous tricks are described in Shakespeare's, "Midsummer Night's Dream", and Robin Hood of Sherwood Forest, who stole from the rich to give to the poor. The surname was first recorded in the latter half of the 13th Century (see below), and one Margaret Robines appeared in the Hundred Rolls of Cambridgeshire, dated 1279. In the modern idiom, the surname can be found recorded as Robyns, Robins, Robens, Robbings, Robinson and Robens. Recordings from London Church Registers include: the marriage of Helen Robinson and Thomas Grene on October 1st 1548, at St. Leonard's, Eastcheap, and the marriage of Christopher Robinson and Jone Millman on November 4th 1565, at St. Mary's, Abchurch. An early settler in the New World Colonies was John Robinson, aged 26 yrs., who sailed from London on the "Peter Bonaventure", bound for the Barbadoes in April 1635. The Coat of Arms most associated with the name is on a green shield a gold chevron between three gold bucks standing at gaze. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Dera Robins, which was dated 1273, in the "Hundred Rolls of Cambridgeshire", during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. 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.

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