Kinds of surname

Diminutive

A "little" or affectionate form of a name, made with an ending such as -kin, -cock, -ot or -et.

Diminutives turned Will into Wilkin, Hann (John) into Hancock and Elie into Elliott. Many surnames are diminutives of popular medieval personal names, sometimes with a patronymic -s or -son added (Wilkins, Wilkinson).