This interesting surname is of early medieval English origin, and is a diminutive of the male given name Robert. Robert comes from the Old German "Hrodebert", originally a combination of "hrothi", and "bertha", meaning "fame-bright". "Robertus" appears in the Domesday Book of 1086, and it was the Norman-French "form Robert that prevailed over Rodbert and Rotbert. The name had spread among the Normans before the Conquest through two Dukes of Normandy, Robert the Devil and Robert Curthose; but it became so popular in England after 1066 that it developed not less than six short forms, and in Scotland two further dialect versions. Robert Bruce, the Scottish national hero, popularized the name north of the Borders. The surname was re-introduced into England at the beginning of the 17th Century. During the 17th Century thousands of French Huguenots fled to England and other countries, to escape religious persecution on the Continent, especially after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes by Louis X1V in 1685. On July 19th 1601, Elizabeth, daughter of Francoys and Anthoinette Roblin, was christened at the French Huguenot Church, Threadneedle Street, London, and Pierre, son of Jean and Marie Roblin, was christened in the same place, on March 14th 1619. In the modern idiom the surname can be found as Rablin, Rablan, Rablen and Roblin. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Simon Robelyn, which was dated 1276, in the "Hundred Rolls of Bedfordshire", 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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