This very unusual and interesting name is an English metonymic occupational name for one who made or sold "cameline", a kind of cloth made from camel-hair. The derivation is from the Anglo-Norman French "camelin", from the Latin "camelinus", a derivative of "camelus", camel. The name it thought to have been introduced to England by followers of William the Conqueror after the Norman Invasion of 1066. Job-descriptive surnames originally denoted the actual occupation of the namebearer, and later became hereditary. As a surname it could also be an example of the medieval practice of creating a surname from a nickname, in this case applied to one who habitually wore clothes made of camel-hair cloth. The surname development since 1273 (see below) has included: James Camplen (1664, Yorkshire), and John Camplinge (1674, Suffolk). In the modern idiom the name can be found recorded as Campling, Camplin, Camplen, Camelin and Camellini. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William Campelin, which was dated 1273, in the "Hundred Rolls of Norfolk", during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. 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.

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