This name, with variant spellings, Layborn, Labern, Leaburn and Layborne is of English locational origin either from Leybourne in Kent or from Leyburn in the North Riding of Yorkshire. The first was recorded as "Lylleburna" in 779 in the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" and as "Leleburne" in the Domesday Book of 1086. It is derived from the Old English personal name "Lylla" plus "burna" a "stream" hence "Lylla's stream". Bearers of the name have been found in Kent from the 12th Century in the village of Leybourne (see below). One Robert de Leburn, appears in the Pipe Rolls for Kent (1192). Leyburn in Yorkshire is recorded as "Leborne" in the Domesday Book of 1086. It is believed to have as its first element the Old English "hlig" (Old Norse "hly") a shelter plus "burna". One Henry Laburn is recorded in the "Register of the Freemen of the City of Yorkshire" (1488). The christening was recorded in Lancashire of John James, son of William and Ann Leaburn, on July 25th 1866 at St. Peter's, Liverpool. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Philip de Leiburn, which was dated 1166, in the "Records of Landholders, Leybourne, Kent, during the reign of King Henry 11, known as "The Builder of Churches", 1154 - 1189. 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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