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The Spurlin name outside the United States

Spurlin is an overwhelmingly American surname today, with about 98% of bearers in the United States. The spelling is older than American settlement: English archives record Spurlins in Middlesex and Bristol between 1670 and 1717, and 18th-century leases name a field called 'Spurlins' in Hertfordshire. Outside the U.S. the related form Spurling is far more common.

Sourcing: strong 18 reference · 9 government · 1 genealogy · 1 news

Spurlin is almost entirely an American name today, both as a surname and as a place name. It was not invented in America, though. The spelling appears in English records of the late 17th and early 18th centuries, sometimes alongside Spurling for the same family.

Modern distribution

Forebears estimates about 3,484 bearers of the surname worldwide, ranking it around 129,933rd globally. About 98% of them, roughly 3,467 people, live in the United States.[1] Outside the U.S. Forebears finds the name in seven countries: Israel (11) and one each in Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Panama and South Korea.[1] The aggregator surnam.es gives 3,449 bearers in six countries, 3,444 of them in the United States.[2] Neither source lists any living Spurlins in the United Kingdom, Canada or Australia.[1][2] Within the United States the name is most common in Texas (about 9% of bearers), Alabama (8%) and North Carolina (8%).[1]

Historical records outside the United States

England

The National Archives' Discovery catalogue, which also indexes local record offices, has a small group of entries spelled Spurlin. Those that name a person and a place are from west Middlesex or Bristol:

  • 1670: a copy of a court roll of the manor of Colham, in Hillingdon, records Sarah and Mary Spurling being admitted to the reversion of a house called Shipcott Hawe after their mother's death. The property had been held by "Thomas Spurlin the father".[3]
  • 1673: a bond from John Ingram of Twickenham to "William Spurlin of the same coachman", securing £4 1s 2d.[4]
  • 1687: probate papers at Lambeth Palace Library for "Spurling; (Spurlin), Robert" of Hayes, Middlesex, a bachelor who had died three months before.[5]
  • 1711: a Court of Chancery suit, Spurlin v Warren (bill and plea).[6]
  • 1717: a Chancery bill, Taylor v Thackstone, that names Katherine Spurlin, a widow of Bristol, among the next of kin of Priscilla Emery, late of Jamaica.[7]

The same catalogue has Spurlings in the same corner of Middlesex a generation earlier, for example in Chancery suits of 1650–51 over property in Hillingdon.[8] Taken together, the entries show Spurlin already in use as a variant of Spurling in England during the lifetime of Jeremiah Spurling (1680–1725), the earliest ancestor named in one published history of an American Spurlin family (see Early Spurlin and Spurling families in America). They do not establish any link between the English and American families. Older English forms such as Spurlinge are covered in Early English records of Spurling and Sperling.

Later English records are sparse. Forebears counts two Spurlins in the 1881 census of England, against 440 Spurlings.[1][9] Ancestry's census-based map shows a single Spurlin entry in England and Wales in 1891, in London.[10] Ancestry says overall that the Spurlin name was found in the USA, the UK and Canada between 1840 and 1920.[10]

Canada

Ancestry's census map shows one Spurlin entry in the 1911 Canadian census, in Ontario.[10] Forebears lists no Spurlins in Canada in 2014, although it counts 67 Spurlings there.[1][9] The Spurling spelling was more established in Canada: Ancestry counts 19 Spurling entries in the 1911 census, eight of them in Quebec.[11]

Australia and elsewhere

No Spurlins are listed in Australia, New Zealand or Bermuda by Forebears or surnam.es.[1][2] Spurling, by contrast, has deep roots in Australia and Bermuda. Tasmania had four photographers named Spurling, across three generations, from the mid-19th century until 1941 (Spurling photographers of Tasmania).[12] Bermuda has had a prominent Spurling family of politicians, lawyers and servicemen (Spurlings of Bermuda).[13][14] Forebears counts 555 Spurlings in Australia and 51 in Bermuda, where the name ranks 202nd.[9]

Meaning

Forebears quotes an old gloss from Elsdon C. Smith's Dictionary of American Family Names (1956): "one with some characteristic of a sparrow; dweller near a beam or pole; dweller at the sign of the sparrow".[1] The current standard reference, the second edition of the Dictionary of American Family Names (2022), gives Spurlin as "English: variant of Spurling", as reproduced by Ancestry and Geneanet.[10][15] Etymology is covered in more detail in Etymology of the Spurlin surname.

Place names abroad

Searches for this entry found no towns, streets or natural features named Spurlin in the United Kingdom, Australia or Canada. The nearest thing is an English field name. Leases of Handpost Farm, on Saffron Lane in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, dated 1738, 1759 and 1785, list a field called "Spurlins" among the farm's fields.[16][17] The Spurline Trail in Waterloo and Kitchener, Ontario, runs beside the Canadian National railway's Waterloo Spur and is not connected with the surname.[18]

The related spelling does appear on the map abroad. On a 1908 expedition to Tasmania's Central Plateau, the photographer Stephen Spurling discovered a lake that he named Lake Spurling. In 1955 the Tasmanian Nomenclature Board renamed it Lake Riengeena and gave the name Mount Spurling to a nearby mountain.[19] Every settlement-level Spurlin place name identified in this project is in the United States (see Places named Spurlin and Spurling place names).

Notable Spurlings abroad

Because the -ing spelling dominates outside North America, most notable bearers abroad are Spurlings. Spurling is a related but separate surname; those with their own entries include:

Gaps

Several major non-U.S. sources could not be searched for this entry: Library and Archives Canada's collection search, the Australian newspaper archive Trove, and the FreeBMD index of births, marriages and deaths in England and Wales. Canadian and Australian records of the Spurlin spelling therefore remain largely unchecked.

See also

  • Places named Spurlin · Places strong
    Overview of communities, landforms, streams, crossings, cemeteries and civic sites in the United States that carry the Spurlin (or closely related Spurling) name, with pointers to Spurlin historical markers and federal land records.
  • Spurling place names (related spelling) · Places strong
    Several U.S. places carry the closely related name Spurling rather than Spurlin: a populated place in Montana, a stream in Tennessee, and a cove, point and rock around Great Cranberry Island, Maine. Spurlington, Kentucky, is also named for a Spurling family, and Tasmania has a Mount Spurling named for a photographer's 1908 discovery.
  • 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.
  • 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).
  • 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.
  • Spurlings of Bermuda (variant spelling) · Genealogy strong
    In Bermuda the name is spelled Spurling, and Forebears ranks it the island's 202nd most common surname. Bermudian Spurlings have included the banker and parliamentarian Sir Stanley Spurling (1879–1961), his son Sir Dudley Spurling, Speaker of the House of Assembly, and his nephew Arthur Rowe Spurling, a First World War flying ace.
  • Spurling photographers of Tasmania (variant spelling) · People strong
    Four members of the Spurling family, across three generations, worked as photographers in Tasmania from the mid-19th century until 1941. Stephen Spurling II (1847–1924) ran a leading Launceston studio. His son Stephen Spurling III (1876–1962) pioneered Tasmanian wilderness photography, and Tasmania's Mount Spurling bears the family name.
  • Spurling athletes in Britain and Australia (variant spelling) · People strong
    Sportsmen and sports figures with the related surname Spurling outside the United States. They include the England rugby international Aubrey Spurling (1856–1945), the Footscray footballers Bill Spurling (1907–1972) and Bob Spurling, the Australian lightweight rower Stephen Spurling and his mother, the Tasmanian rowing administrator Marj Spurling, and the English rugby hooker Scott Spurling.
  • Arthur Spurling (Spurling variant) · People strong
    Arthur Rowe Spurling (1896–1984) was a Bermudian infantryman and airman who became a First World War flying ace with six credited victories. He won the Distinguished Flying Cross for a 1918 action in which he and his observer fought their way through a formation of about thirty German fighters.
  • Bell & Spurling (Spurling variant) · People strong
    Bell & Spurling are an English comedy-music duo, Martin Bell and Johnny Spurling. They are best known for the 2001 football novelty single "Sven, Sven, Sven", which entered the UK Singles Chart at number seven.
  • Claribel Spurling (Spurling variant) · People strong
    Claribel Spurling (1875–1941) was an English history teacher and headmistress who became a First World War codebreaker with British military intelligence (MI1(b)). She was the only candidate to score 100% on its supposedly impossible entrance test, and later worked for the Government Code and Cypher School.
  • Dudley Spurling (Spurling variant) · People strong
    Sir Dudley Spurling (1913–1986) was a Bermudian lawyer, 1936 Olympic swimmer, 1934 Empire Games discus thrower and Speaker of the House of Assembly of Bermuda (1972–76). He was a founding partner of the law firm now called Appleby.
  • J Spurling Ltd v Bradshaw (1956) · History strong
    J Spurling Ltd v Bradshaw [1956] EWCA Civ 3 is an English Court of Appeal decision on exclusion clauses, best known for Lord Denning's "red hand rule". The claimant, J. Spurling Ltd, was a London warehousing company; its name uses the related surname Spurling, not Spurlin.
  • John Spurling (Spurling variant) · People strong
    John Spurling (born 1936) is a Kenyan-born English playwright, novelist and art critic who won the 2015 Walter Scott Prize for The Ten Thousand Things.
  • Sir John Spurling (Spurling variant) · People strong
    Sir John Spurling (born 1939) is a British businessman who built up the pet insurer Pet Protect and founded PetPartners. He was appointed OBE in 2000 and KCVO in 2012 for charitable services.

References

  1. ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ Spurlin Surname Origin, Meaning & Last Name History — Forebears — 2014 country counts; 1881 England count; US states; quotes Smith (1956) Reference
  2. ↑ ↑ ↑ Spurlin Surname: origin and distribution in 6 countries — surnam.es — 3,449 bearers in six countries Reference
  3. ↑ Copy of Court Roll of Sir Robert Vyner, manor of Colham, 12 April 1670 (ACC/0250/39) — The London Archives, via The National Archives Discovery — catalogue description Government
  4. ↑ Bond, John Ingram to William Spurlin, 15 March 1673 (DD99/D/40) — Yorkshire Archaeological and Historical Society, via The National Archives Discovery — catalogue description Government
  5. ↑ Spurling; (Spurlin), Robert (Hayes, co. Middx), bachelor, 11 Jan. 1687 (VH 98/5/34v) — Lambeth Palace Library, via The National Archives Discovery — probate act book entry; a companion bond, warrant and inventory is VH 96/2426 Government
  6. ↑ Spurlin v Warren, 1711 (C 9/209/37) — The National Archives, Kew — Court of Chancery pleadings Government
  7. ↑ Taylor v Thackstone, 1717 (C 11/2735/134) — The National Archives, Kew — names Katherine Spurlin, widow of Bristol Government
  8. ↑ Ling v Spurling, 1650 (C 10/8/83) — The National Archives, Kew — property in Hillingdon, Middlesex; see also Linge v Spurlinge, 1651 (C 10/10/73) Government
  9. ↑ ↑ ↑ Spurling Surname Origin, Meaning & Last Name History — Forebears — 2014 and 1881 counts Reference
  10. ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ Spurlin Surname Meaning & Spurlin Family History — Ancestry.com — DAFN 2nd ed. meaning; census distribution map (US 1840/1880/1920, England and Wales 1891, Canada 1911) Reference
  11. ↑ Spurling Surname Meaning & Family History — Ancestry.com — census distribution map, Canada 1911 Reference
  12. ↑ Spurling Family — The Companion to Tasmanian History (Wendy Rimon; Centre for Tasmanian Historical Studies, University of Tasmania, 2006) — Four photographers and their dates; Frederick's Fingal studio; largest studio in northern Tasmania; read via Internet Archive snapshot, 2025-04-03 Reference
  13. ↑ ↑ Dudley Spurling — Wikipedia — parents, marriage, career (citing Who Was Who), categories: Bermudian Rhodes Scholars, Trinity College Oxford, Lincoln's Inn, United Bermuda Party, Knights Bachelor Reference
  14. ↑ ↑ Arthur Spurling — Wikipedia — Biography, BVRC and Lincolnshire Regiment service, RAF career, later life Reference
  15. ↑ Last name SPURLIN: origin and meaning — Geneanet — "English: variant of Spurling. Origin: England" (DAFN 2nd ed.) Genealogy
  16. ↑ Counterpart lease, Handpost Farm, Hemel Hempstead, 16 May 1738 (DE/Nm/80500) — Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies, via The National Archives Discovery — field list includes "Spurlins" Government
  17. ↑ Draft lease, Handpost Farm, Hemel Hempstead, 26 June 1785 (DE/Nm/80505) — Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies, via The National Archives Discovery — field list includes "Spurlins"; the November 1759 draft lease (DE/Nm/80502) lists it too Government
  18. ↑ Spurline Trail — Wikipedia Reference
  19. ↑ Spurling, Stephen (1876–1962) — Obituaries Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University — Lake Spurling (1908), renamed Lake Riengeena and Mount Spurling named in 1955 Reference
  20. ↑ Speakers of the House of Assembly — Parliament of Bermuda — lists Sir Dudley Spurling, 1972–1976 Government
  21. ↑ Claribel Spurling — Wikipedia Reference
  22. ↑ John Spurling (author) — Wikipedia — biography, parents (citing Who Was Who), works list, FRSL 2010 Reference
  23. ↑ Hilary Spurling — Wikipedia Reference
  24. ↑ Jack Spurling — Wikipedia Reference
  25. ↑ John Spurling (businessman) — Wikipedia — Career, charity roles, KCVO 2012 (citing Who's Who, The Telegraph and The London Gazette) Reference
  26. ↑ Jacko set to scupper Sven — BBC Sport, Funny Old Game (10 October 2001) — Highest new entry at No 7; Top of the Pops; interview with Martin Bell News
  27. ↑ Aubrey Spurling — Wikipedia — England cap 1882; Blackheath club historian Reference
  28. ↑ Stephen Spurling — Wikipedia — Club, state and international rowing career; family Reference
  29. ↑ J Spurling Ltd v Bradshaw — Wikipedia — Citations, judges, facts, red hand rule, later rejection of fundamental-breach doctrine Reference

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Last reviewed 2026-09-24.