Deacon Family History

English: from Middle English deken dicoun ‘deacon a priest's assistant at church services’ (Old French diacne Old English diacon dēacon both ultimately from Late Latin diaconus from Greek diakonos ‘servant’). Since deacons were in holy orders they would not be permitted to marry (with allowance for those few already married when ordained) so the surname is probably in most cases a secular nickname rather than the name of a church official perhaps denoting a deacon's servant.

English: variant of Dicken. Irish (Wexford): of English origin (see 1 and 2 above) taken to Ireland in the 17th century.

When the Irish surname is not of English origin it may be an Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Deocáin ‘descendant of Deocán’ a personal name of uncertain etymology.