Newlyn

Recorded as Newlin, Newling and Newlyn, this is an English and Cornish locational surname. It originates from the town of Newlyn in Cornwall, whose origin is believed to be from an early martyr called St Newline of the 6th century. However as the saints name and the town name both translate as 'new water' from the Old English 'neow - llyn, the origins are probably the same. Locational surnames are usually 'from' names. That is to say names given to people after they left their orriginal homes to settle somewhere else. In so doing they took or were given as their surname the name of their former home. In this case early examples of the surname recording taken from surving registers include Robert Newlin of Cornwall, a student at Oxford Unitversity in 1614, and Elizabeth Newlyn who married William Matthews at St Georges chapel, Hanover Square, Westminster, in 1779.