The Surname

Etymology, variants, distribution and heraldry.

• Early English records of Spurling and Sperling · The Surname strong
  Forms of the name appear in English records from the late 12th century, such as Alexander Sperling (Yorkshire, 1187). Nicholas Sperlyng sat for Wycombe in Parliament in 1402, and Tudor and Stuart records place Spurlinges in Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire, west Middlesex and Buckinghamshire, and East Anglia, including the serjeant-at-law and MP John Spurling (d. 1603).
• Etymology of the Spurlin surname · The Surname strong
  Scholarly surname dictionaries derive Spurlin, through Spurling and Sparling, from either an Old English personal name (Spyrling) or a Middle English word for a small fish such as the smelt; the popular 'sparrow' explanation belongs to German Sperling.
• Geographic distribution of the Spurlin surname · The Surname strong
  Almost all people named Spurlin live in the United States, especially Texas, Alabama and North Carolina today and Indiana in the 19th century. The fuller spelling Spurling is still found in England (especially East Anglia and London), Australia, Canada and Bermuda.
• Sparling (the fish) and the Spurlin name · The Surname strong
  'Sparling' (also sperling, spurling) is an old English and Scots word for the European smelt, Osmerus eperlanus. It is one of the two main proposed sources of the Spurling/Spurlin surname.
• Sperling: a different surname · The Surname strong
  Sperling is a German and Jewish surname meaning 'sparrow'. It is often given as the origin of Spurlin, but English surname dictionaries derive Spurlin from a different source.
• Spurlin (surname) · The Surname strong
  Spurlin is an English-origin surname, treated by modern surname dictionaries as a variant of Spurling/Sparling; today it is found almost entirely in the United States, where about 2,600 people bore it in the 2020 Census.
• Spurlin coat of arms and heraldry · The Surname mixed
  There is no coat of arms for the surname Spurlin, since arms are granted to individuals. Burke's General Armory does record arms of several historical English Spurling, Sperling and Sparling families, which crest vendors reuse.
• Spurlin in the U.S. Census (2000, 2010, 2020) · The Surname strong
  Official U.S. Census Bureau surname files rank Spurlin about 10,000th–11,500th among American surnames, with 2,949 bearers in 2000, 3,195 in 2010 and 2,616 in 2020, most of them non-Hispanic white.
• Spurlin spelling variants and related surnames · The Surname strong
  Spurlin belongs to a group of related spellings (Spurling, Sparling, Sparlin, Sperlin, Spirling) that the Dictionary of American Family Names traces to the same English roots. Sperling and Spurlock look similar but have separate origins.
• Spurling (surname) · The Surname strong
  Spurling is the fuller spelling from which Spurlin derives. Unlike Spurlin, it is well established in England, Australia and especially Bermuda as well as the United States.
• Spurlock vs. Spurlin · The Surname strong
  Spurlock is a separate surname from Spurlin despite the similar look and a shared concentration in the American South and Midwest. It is more than four times as common in the United States.