Glen

This name is of locational origin either from the lands of Glen in the parish of Traquair, Peeblesshire, Scotland or from Glen in Leicestershire. The latter was first recorded as "aet Glenn" in "The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle", dated 849, and as Glen in the Domesday Book of 1086. The name derives from the British "glenno", a valley. "British", in this instance, refers to the extinct Celtic language of the ancient Britons. The Scottish "Glen" is so called from the Old Gaelic "gleann", also meaning "valley". The surname was first recorded in England in the early part of the 13th Century, (see below). One, Adam de Glen appears in "the Subsidy Rolls of Leicestershire", dated 1327. Colban del Glen who received a legacy left him by the queen was recorded in "The Exchequer Rolls of Scotland", (1328). The verses of the Scottish lyrical poet William Glen (1789 - 1826) include "Wae's me for Prince Charlie". The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Gregory Glen, which was dated 1230, in the "Curia Rolls of Suffolk", during the reign of King Henry 111, known as "The Frenchman", 1216 - 1272. 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.