This interesting and uncommon name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a variant form of the locational surname Terling or Tarling, from the place called Terling near Witham in Essex. The place is recorded circa 1050 as "Terlinges", and in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Terlingas", while in the "Inquisitiones Post Mortem" of 1338 it appears as "Tyrlinge". The name means "(place of) Tyrhtel's people", derived from the Olde English pre 7th Century personal name "Tyrhtel", of obscure origins, with the Olde English suffix "-ing(as)", people, tribe of. Locational surnames were acquired by the lord of the manor, and local landowners, and particularly by those former inhabitants who moved to another area, usually in search of work, and were thereafter best identified by the name of their birthplace. Regional dialectal differences and varying standards of literacy subsequently gave rise to a variety of surname forms. In this instance, these range from Taling, Terling and Turling, to Thirling, Thurling, Thurlin and Thirlon(g). Early examples include: Nicholes Thirling or Thurlyng (1550 and 1552, Suffolk); John Thurlyn (1577, Cambridgeshire); and William Thurlin (1585, Norfolk). Among the recordings of the name in Church Registers are those of the marriage of Jane Thurlinge and John Martin at St. Marks Sepulchre, London, on February 7th 1577, and the marriage of William Thurling and Annis Dixon on September 10th 1591, at East Walton, Norfolk. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Hughe Terlinge, which was dated June 5th 1547, marriage to Katheren Hare, at Epping, Essex, during the reign of King Edward V1, known as "The Boy King", 1547 - 1553. 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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