This rare and interesting name is of Anglo-Saxon and Welsh origin, and is a dialectal variant of a locational name Turkdean, from a place so called in Gloucestershire. The derivation is from a river name 'Turce', identical with 'twrch' in Wales, and literally means, boar, and is said to refer to rivers which form deep channels under ground, where they flow unseen for a distance. The second element is the Old English 'denu', a valley, thus the valley of the river 'Turce'. This place is recorded first as 'Turcandene' in 716, and as 'Turcadenu' in the Saxon Charters of 779, and as 'Turchedene' in the Domesday Book of 1086. The following examples illustrate the name development after 1597 (see below): Mary Turkin married John Dosset on December 26th 1717 at St. Mary Magdalene, Oxford, and Amy Tirkin, the daughter of Thomas and Mary Tirkin, was christened on September 2nd 1768 at St. Enoder, Cornwall. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Clement Terkinge, which was dated September 21st 1597, St. Giles, Cripplegate, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1, 'Good Queen Bess', 1558 - 1603. 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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