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[Surname] Re: Entrikin origin?
You may find the following website interesting:
http://www.geocities.com/nadineholder/Entriken.html
or http://vidas.rootsweb.com/entrekin.html

[...One of the barrier ridges northward is pierced by the narrow gloomy pass of Enterkin, through which the sister vales of Nith and Clyde keep up precarious intercourse....]

the above text is taken from the following website:
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/dumfries/history1.htm

Your name is of Scottish origin. I've searched from variant to variant (Entrikin, Entriken, Entrican, Entrekin and Enterkin). It points to Scotland at the end. The name Enterkin is a place and a pass in Scotland. There is a record of a William of Enterkin Dunbar, a Scotsman. You'll find it on the following website:
http://personal.nbnet.nb.ca/swerner/radical/undertakers.html

Many other variants: Entricken, Entrickon, Entricon, Entrecan, etc.

The meaning i can't find. At first i thought it might be from Hendrick, but this seems very unlikely, because there are less variants starting with end- than with ent- . There is the English word entrick which means 'to trick, perplex'. Maybe this is the meaning of the placename.

Here another site about the Entrekin family:
http://www.geocities.com/byronic106/entriken.html

This leads to more variants: Entrieken, Entriekin, Entergun and Antrican.

[...To the left in amongest the hills is the Enterkin Pass where in 1684 Covenanters ambushed a party of Dragoons....]

I talked about it with someone else why someone would name himself after a pass. He had the brilliant idea that in the old days those passes were often guarded and thus inhabited. This might mean that your ancestor was a guard at this pass.

The following website is about the Enterkin Pass:
http://www.rsf.org.uk/routes/scotland05.htm

This website tells about the place where 'the lands of Enterkin' are (search for 'enterkin'):
http://members.tripod.com/bob_newcumnock/duncumnock/welcomex.html

Summary: because of the appearancies of "of Enterkin" before 1700, this leads to a place called Enterkin. Whether this place is the Enterkin pass or an area in Ayr County is unclear. If you want to be sure about that, you might try to get contact with Scottish institutes about the history of Scotland. They might know more.

The following website takes a while to load, but it contains a search option and five other useful links for you:
http://www.scan.org.uk/knowledgebase/search/gazetteer_indexnew.asp
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Replies

I would like to know more
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I would like to know more about my family and if i still have family in Scotland
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I was told that are last names were actually Hamilton and we were of Royalty decent???
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We are the Michigan side of the family, and we are interested in getting to know more about our gene pool. Is there any one who knows more about our cousins in California and the Mid-West?
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I’ve been researching this surname as a branch of my family tree connected to the Hibbens. I have some great documentation and records if anyone is interested!
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Taneysmith39@gmail.com or can look me up on Facebook Tanya Smith Entrikin
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Wow!!! Menke, you're a genius! Obviously I had no idea what I was doing because I couldn't find anything but family trees which didn't really tell anything about the origin. I found one thing that suggested Welsh, but after seeing all the info you provided I'm total convinced you're right. Thank you SOOOOO much for your help! Now I can tell my kids that they are Scottish (along with about 8 other nationalities :)

Thank you again!
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