Darling

This interesting name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is one of the variants of the surname Darling, itself from the Olde English pre 7th Century "deorling", darling, one dearly loved, originally a nickname for "the beloved or dear one", but which also gave rise to the Olde English personal names "Dierling, Dyrling" and "Deorling". Darling itself is popular in Scotland and Ireland, where the term was used to denote the young noble of a house, perhaps the eldest son, on whom all expectation rested. In Scotland the personal name is recorded as "Derlig" in 1177, while one Waldevus Darling or Derlyng was a charter witness in Roxburgh in 1338. The personal name itself, however, first appears as "Derling", circa 1133, in Bedfordshire, while the surname is first recorded in the early 11th Century (see below). Other early examples include: William Dierling (Pipe Rolls of Devonshire, circa 1195); Henry Durling (Feet of Fines of Wiltshire, 1242); Emma Derlyng (Records of the Monastery of Ramsey, 1244); Ralph Durlyng (Subsidy Rolls of Somerset, 1327); and Richard Dorling (Subsidy Rolls of Worcestershire, 1327). John, son of Richard Dorling, was christened on April 27th 1651, at St. Olave's, Southwark, London. The Coat of Arms most associated with the name depicts on a gold fesse, three red crosses crosslet fitchee, on a blue shield, gold guttee. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Aelmaer Deorlingc, which was dated 1016, in the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicles", during the reign of Ethelred the Unready, King of England, 978 - 1016. 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.