This very rare name apparently recorded in the spellings of Tarbin, Tarborn, Tarborne and Tarburn, is locational. It is believed to be from the "Border Counties" between England and Scotland, and specifically from an area known as Tarn Burn near Falstone in Northumberland. This is also believed to have been the site of a medieval village which has now totally disappeared, leaving as its only public memorial, the surviving surname in its various forms. An estimated five thousand surnames of the British Isles do originate from "lost" villages, so whilst unusual this is by no means a unique situation. Locational surnames are also usually "from" names. That is to say names given to people as easy identification, after they left their original homesteads to move somewhere else. Over the centuries spelling being at best erratic, and local dialects very thick, lead to the development of "sounds like" spellings. In this case the surname does not appear to be recorded in Northumberland at all unless it be as Tarn or Tarne, however examples are to be found in the surviving church registers of the diocese of Greater London. These include James Tarborn, who married Judey Sherborne, at St James Clerkenwell, on February 6th 1675, and Benjamin Tarbin, who married Christine Bennett at St Clement Danes, on December 1st 1796.

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