THE HARLING NAME
WHO ARE WE? WHERE DID WE COME FROM?

ACCORDING TO THE DICTIONARY OF SURNAMES THE NAME HARLING IS DERIVED FROM OLD GERMAN ERLEWIN, HERLEWIN OR OLD FRENCH HERLUIN, ARLUIN, WHICH MEANS EARL FRIEND. THE NAME FIRST APPEARS IN THE 10th - 12th CENTURIES IN THE SOUTH OF ENGLAND.
BUT
MY FATHER ALWAYS CLAIMED WE CAME FROM VIKING STOCK, BEING  “FAIR HAIRED AND RED OF BEARD” (UNFORTUNATELY NOW GREY)
THE SUFFIX 'ING' CAN MEAN PLACE OR 'INGAS' PEOPLE OF.... THERE ARE MANY 'ING' PLACES THROUGHOUT ANGLO-SAXON ENGLAND. eg BUCK'ING'HAM, BIRM'ING'HAM etc. FOR THE NAME HARLING THE DERIVATION IS THOUGHT TO MEAN 'THE PEOPLE OF HEARLA', ie THE 'HEARLINGAS'.
THERE IS ALSO AN OLD ENGLISH SURNAME DIRECTORY THAT INDICATES THAT 'HEARLINAS' ALSO MEANT 'FRIENDLY WARRIORS'.
THE PLACE NAME OF 'HARLING' APPEARS THROUGHOUT ENGLAND IN MIDDLESEX, BEDFORDSHIRE AND YORKSHIRE, IT WOULD MEAN THE PLACE OF 'HEARLA'. ie HARLINGTON IN BEDFORDSHIRE LITERALLY MEANS THE HOMESTEAD AT THE PLACE OF 'HEARLA' OR 'HEARLINGAS' FARMSTEAD.
THOSE OF US CARRYING THE NAME HARLING ARE PROBABLY DESCENDED FROM THE PEOPLE WHO CAME FROM THESE PLACES WHEN SURNAMES BECAME COMMON IN MORE RECENT TIMES, AS A MEANS OF IDENTIFYING DIFFERENT PEOPLE WITH THE SAME FORENAME.
(THANKS TO DAVID HARLING FOR THE ABOVE INFORMATION)

FOR POPULATION DISTRIBUTION  GO TO
http://www.spatial-literacy.org/UCLnames/Surnames.aspx

SO DO WE HAVE TWO SEPARATE GROUPS OF HARLING'S, WITH THE SAME NAME ARISING BY COINCIDENCE! ie THE SOUTHERN GROUP DERIVING FROM NORMAN INFLUENCE, AND THE NORTHERN GROUP FROM SCANDINAVIAN INFLUENCE ??

IF YOU HAVE ANY THOUGHTS ON THE MATTER LET ME KNOW AND I WILL INCORPORATE THEM IN THIS PAGE.