Recorded in many spelling forms including Moline, Mollan, Mollen, Mollene and Mollin, this most interesting surname is Anglo-French, and sometimes with a dash of Viking. It derives from at least three possible sources. Firstly, the name may be of Old French origin, from a place called Molines in France. Secondly, it may be of Anglo-Saxon origin, from the Olde English pre 7th Century word "mylen", meaning a mill, ultimately from the Latin "molina", to grind. Hence, the surname may be a topographical name for a dweller by the mill, or an occupational name for a worker there, from the same source. Finally, in some instances, Molin may derive from the Old Swedish word "mo", a sand-dune or heathland; hence a topographical name for a dweller by or on a sand-dune or heathland. From this source also one finds the surnames Mo, Moe, Mohlen, Molen and Mohlin. The surname first appears in the late 13th Century (see below), while other early examples of the surname include Adam del Molyn, mentioned in the Assize Court Rolls of Staffordshire in 1289; and William de Molyns, recorded in 1297 in the "Minister's Accounts of the Earldom of Cornwall". William Mollin was christened in 1539 at St. Benet's Fink, London, and John Mollon was a witness at the christening of his daughter Ann, at the famous churc of St Mary-le-Bone, London, on January 5th 1791. John Molin, aged 30 yrs., was an early settler in America, having embarked from London in 1635 aboard the "Primrose" for Virginia. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Jon de Molyn, which was dated 1274, in the "Hundred Rolls of Essex", during the reign of King Edward 1st, 1272 - 1307. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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