Healings

Recorded as Healing and Healings, this rare and interesting English surname has two possible sources, each with its own distinct history and derivation. Firstly, it may be of Anglo-Saxon origin, and locational from the place called Healing near Grimsby in the county of Lincolnshire. This place was recorded as "Heghelinge" in the famous Domesday Book of 1086, and as "Hailinges" in the Pipe Rolls of the county in 1180. The place is so called from the Olde English pre 7th century personal name "Haegel", meaning Hawthorn, with the suffix -ingas, meaning the people or tribe of; hence, "the place of the Haegel people". The second possible origin of the name is Old French, from the place called Hellean in Brittany. The name from this source was introduced into England by followers of William the Conqueror after the successful invasion of 1066. The first nameholder being Tihel de Helion, lord of Helion Bumpstead, in the county of Essex, and so recorded in the Domesday Book, whilst Ralph de Helling is recorded in the Pipe Rolls of Lincolnshire in 1191. Later examples include William Helyns in the Worcestershire Subsidy Rolls of 1332, whilst recordings from surviving church registers include the marriage of John Healins and Mary Jencks at St. Anne's, Soho, London, on July 8th 1716, and the marriage of Anthony Healings and Susanna Halls at Bishops Tawton, Devonshire, on January 7th 1765. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.