This is a very unusual and apparently English surname. It is seemingly recorded in a number of forms including Fulbene, Filbourn, Filbeen, and Philbin, although it has to be said that the relative paucity of records has not allowed for a definately proven association between the spellings. It is a surname which as Philbin appears regularly on national British television, and as such there is a tendancy to make certain assumptions. The register of surnames of the diocese of Greater London shows that the name is apparently first recorded there in Napoleonic times with one Richard Philbin marrying Stella Desart at St Pancras Old Church on April 8th 1812. Also in 1816 on December 22nd of that year, a Martin Philbin married Lucy Terry at St Giles Cripplegate. We have not been able to trace any definate association between the two Philbins so recorded, but the rareness of the name clearly would suggest that these were brothers. A much earlier recording is that of Mary Fylbourne at St Margarets, Westminster, on November 5th 1581, but again we have not been able to establish any successor recordings to link with the events of 1816. A final possibility is that Filbin is a dialectal form of Filkin, a development from Phillip. John Fylkyn was recorded in Chester in 1549, and Thomas Filkin at Boughton, also Cheshire, in 1621.

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