Topling

This is a surname of Olde English and Norse-Viking origins. Like many, perhaps the majority of all surnames, it has been greatly changed or added to, over the centuries by transpositions brought on by a combination of strong local dialects and poor spelling. The Domesday Book of 1086 refers to people called Torfin or Turfin mainly from the Yorkshire area, and from these original baptismal names developed a whole range of surname alternatives which include Turpin of later highway renown, and other forms such as Tapin, Tiping, Tipling, Toping, Topling, Toplin, Tupling and others. The original pre 7th century translation means 'Good-Finn', and may explain why the county of Finland was so named. The name in its various spellings was widely popular in England, and examples of the recordings include Turfin of Northumberland in the pipe rolls of 1202, and Richard Turpin in the Hampshire rolls of 1287. Later examples include John Topyn, christened at St Botolphs church, Bishopgate, London, on July 8th 1621, Margree Tuplin who married Francis Price at the famous church of St Mary Magdalene, London, on July 14th 1631, John Tipling who married Susan Simpson at St Dunstans in the East, Stepney, on April 23rd 1638, and Benjamin Tupling, christened at St Mary Le Bone, Marylebone, London on April 8th 1791. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Gaufridis Torphinus, which was dated 1196, in the Curia Regis Rolls of the county of Yorkshire, during the reign of King Richard 1, known as 'The Lionheart', 1189 - 1199. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was sometimes known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.