Wilkerson surname meaning

Wilkerson is an English patronymic meaning “son of Wilker.” Wilker was a familiar or diminutive form of William, so the surname preserves descent from an ancestor known by that shorter name. Wilkinson and Wilkison are parallel forms built from Wilkin, another William diminutive, but they do not imply one shared family tree. William’s traditional Germanic gloss belongs to the personal name, not to a literal characteristic of Wilkerson bearers. The catalog uses parent’s name with high confidence because the Wilker-plus-son structure is transparent.