Sparling (the fish) and the Spurlin name

The word

Wiktionary defines sparling as the European smelt (Osmerus eperlanus), particularly in Scottish usage^[1]. The word came into Middle English as sperlynge, from Old French esperlinge, which was borrowed from Germanic. Cognates include German Spiering/Spierling, Middle Low German spirling and Middle Dutch spierling, and Wiktionary relates them to Dutch spier, "spar, pole"^[1]. It lists sperling as an obsolete English synonym^[1].

As a surname source

The Dictionary of American Family Names lists Middle English sperling, sparling, spirling, spurling (from Anglo-Norman French esperlinge and Middle Dutch spierlinc) as a source of the surname Sparling and its variants. It glosses the fish as "perhaps smelt, sprat, pilchard, or whiting" and suggests the name was given to someone who caught, sold or resembled the fish^[2]. Spurling is listed as a variant of Sparling, and Spurlin as a variant of Spurling^[3][4].

Heraldic echo

The Sparling family of Petton, Shropshire, recorded in Burke's General Armory, bore "three sparlings haurient" (three smelts upright) on an erminois field^[5]. These are canting arms, a heraldic pun on the bearer's name. They show that by the 19th century at least one English Sparling family linked its name to the fish, but they do not prove the medieval origin of the surname.

Note on 'sparrow'

The fish word is sometimes confused with German Sperling, "sparrow"^[6]. Wiktionary's note that the smelt name is a homonym of a bird name helps explain the confusion^[1].