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Spurling (surname)

Spurling is the fuller spelling from which Spurlin derives. Unlike Spurlin, it is well established in England, Australia and especially Bermuda as well as the United States.

Sourcing: strong 5 reference · 3 genealogy · 2 government

Origin

DAFN, as quoted by Ancestry, calls Spurling an English variant of Sparling[1]. Sparling comes from either the Old English personal name Spyrling or the Middle English word for a small fish such as the smelt[2]. SurnameDB favours the personal-name origin and records early forms such as Alexander Sperling (Yorkshire, 1187)[3]. See Early English records of Spurling and Sperling.

Distribution

Forebears estimates about 5,200 Spurlings worldwide: 3,436 in the United States, 953 in England, 555 in Australia, 67 in Canada and 51 in Bermuda. In Bermuda that is about 1 in 1,280 people, making it the island's 202nd most common surname. Its 2014 estimates also count Spurlings in Northern Ireland (24), Ireland (21), New Zealand (20), South Africa (15), Scotland (13) and Jersey (5), and for 1881 it counts 440 in England and one in Wales[4]. The 2020 U.S. Census counted 2,729 people named Spurling (rank 11,100), compared with 2,792 in 2010[5][6].

Ancestry's analysis of historical censuses says Maine had the most Spurling families in the US in 1840. Its census map shows 455 Spurling entries in the 1891 census of England and Wales, a third of them in London, and 19 in the 1911 Canadian census, eight of them in Quebec[1]. Geneanet's member trees most often place English Spurlings in Suffolk and Norfolk, including Kenninghall, Banham, Woodbridge and Norwich[7].

Notable bearers

People named Spurling include the neurosurgeon Roy Glenwood Spurling (1894–1968), after whom the Spurling's test is named; R. G. Spurling (1857–1935), founder of the Church of God; the biographer Hilary Spurling; the Bermudian First World War flying ace Arthur Spurling; and the marine painter Jack Spurling[8].

Other Spurlings outside the United States with entries of their own include the wider Spurlings of Bermuda, the Tasmanian Spurling photographers, the codebreaker Claribel Spurling, the businessman Sir John Spurling, the comedy duo Bell & Spurling, and the sportsmen in Spurling athletes in Britain and Australia. The English contract case J Spurling Ltd v Bradshaw is named after a London warehousing company[8].

Relationship to Spurlin

Spurlin is recorded as a variant of Spurling[9]. Some families have used both spellings. The FamilyTreeDNA project's reference ancestor, for example, is recorded as "Big John" Spurling of Lincoln County, North Carolina[10].

See also

  • Spurlin (surname) · The Surname strong
    Spurlin is an English-origin surname, treated by modern surname dictionaries as a variant of Spurling/Sparling; today it is found almost entirely in the United States, where about 2,600 people bore it in the 2020 Census.
  • Spurlin spelling variants and related surnames · The Surname strong
    Spurlin belongs to a group of related spellings (Spurling, Sparling, Sparlin, Sperlin, Spirling) that the Dictionary of American Family Names traces to the same English roots. Sperling and Spurlock look similar but have separate origins.
  • Sperling/Spurling DNA surname project · Genealogy mixed
    FamilyTreeDNA hosts a volunteer-run Y-DNA surname project, 'Sperling Spurling', for Spurlin, Spurling, Sparlin, Sparling, Sperlin, Sperling, Spirlin and Spirling lines. Its largest group links descendants of Jeremiah Spurling of Virginia with descendants of 'Big John' Spurlin of Lincoln County, North Carolina.
  • Early English records of Spurling and Sperling · The Surname strong
    Forms of the name appear in English records from the late 12th century, such as Alexander Sperling (Yorkshire, 1187). Nicholas Sperlyng sat for Wycombe in Parliament in 1402, and Tudor and Stuart records place Spurlinges in Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire, west Middlesex and Buckinghamshire, and East Anglia, including the serjeant-at-law and MP John Spurling (d. 1603).
  • Spurlings of Bermuda (variant spelling) · Genealogy strong
    In Bermuda the name is spelled Spurling, and Forebears ranks it the island's 202nd most common surname. Bermudian Spurlings have included the banker and parliamentarian Sir Stanley Spurling (1879–1961), his son Sir Dudley Spurling, Speaker of the House of Assembly, and his nephew Arthur Rowe Spurling, a First World War flying ace.
  • Arthur Spurling (Spurling variant) · People strong
    Arthur Rowe Spurling (1896–1984) was a Bermudian infantryman and airman who became a First World War flying ace with six credited victories. He won the Distinguished Flying Cross for a 1918 action in which he and his observer fought their way through a formation of about thirty German fighters.
  • Bell & Spurling (Spurling variant) · People strong
    Bell & Spurling are an English comedy-music duo, Martin Bell and Johnny Spurling. They are best known for the 2001 football novelty single "Sven, Sven, Sven", which entered the UK Singles Chart at number seven.
  • Businesses with names similar to Spurlin · Miscellany mixed
    Many businesses that turn up in searches for "Spurlin" actually bear the similar surnames Spurlino, Spurling or Spurlock. This page lists the most common ones.
  • Claribel Spurling (Spurling variant) · People strong
    Claribel Spurling (1875–1941) was an English history teacher and headmistress who became a First World War codebreaker with British military intelligence (MI1(b)). She was the only candidate to score 100% on its supposedly impossible entrance test, and later worked for the Government Code and Cypher School.
  • Dudley Spurling (Spurling variant) · People strong
    Sir Dudley Spurling (1913–1986) was a Bermudian lawyer, 1936 Olympic swimmer, 1934 Empire Games discus thrower and Speaker of the House of Assembly of Bermuda (1972–76). He was a founding partner of the law firm now called Appleby.
  • Geographic distribution of the Spurlin surname · The Surname strong
    Almost all people named Spurlin live in the United States, especially Texas, Alabama and North Carolina today and Indiana in the 19th century. The fuller spelling Spurling is still found in England (especially East Anglia and London), Australia, Canada and Bermuda.
  • Greg Spurling (Spurling variant) · People strong
    Greg Spurling is a former American college basketball center from Knoxville, Tennessee. The Phoenix Suns drafted him in the fifth round in 1986, and he later signed with the Suns and the Chicago Bulls, but he was waived each time and never played in an NBA game.
  • J Spurling Ltd v Bradshaw (1956) · History strong
    J Spurling Ltd v Bradshaw [1956] EWCA Civ 3 is an English Court of Appeal decision on exclusion clauses, best known for Lord Denning's "red hand rule". The claimant, J. Spurling Ltd, was a London warehousing company; its name uses the related surname Spurling, not Spurlin.
  • Sir John Spurling (Spurling variant) · People strong
    Sir John Spurling (born 1939) is a British businessman who built up the pet insurer Pet Protect and founded PetPartners. He was appointed OBE in 2000 and KCVO in 2012 for charitable services.
  • Slim Spurling and Light-Life rings (Spurling variant) · Products & Brands mixed
    Bill "Slim" Spurling (1938–2007) was an American metalworker and dowser who created copper "Light-Life" rings in 1991. They are the origin of today's "tensor ring" products, a large Spurling-name product niche on Etsy and Amazon.
  • Spurlin records and recordings (collectible vinyl) · Products & Brands strong
    A guide to collectible vinyl records by or credited to people named Spurlin, from Tommy Spurlin's 1950s rockabilly 45s to Jack Spurlin's country singles, Tracy Spurlin's 1986 soul 12-inch and LPs with Spurlin sidemen.
  • Spurling athletes in Britain and Australia (variant spelling) · People strong
    Sportsmen and sports figures with the related surname Spurling outside the United States. They include the England rugby international Aubrey Spurling (1856–1945), the Footscray footballers Bill Spurling (1907–1972) and Bob Spurling, the Australian lightweight rower Stephen Spurling and his mother, the Tasmanian rowing administrator Marj Spurling, and the English rugby hooker Scott Spurling.
  • Spurling photographers of Tasmania (variant spelling) · People strong
    Four members of the Spurling family, across three generations, worked as photographers in Tasmania from the mid-19th century until 1941. Stephen Spurling II (1847–1924) ran a leading Launceston studio. His son Stephen Spurling III (1876–1962) pioneered Tasmanian wilderness photography, and Tasmania's Mount Spurling bears the family name.
  • Spurling place names (related spelling) · Places strong
    Several U.S. places carry the closely related name Spurling rather than Spurlin: a populated place in Montana, a stream in Tennessee, and a cove, point and rock around Great Cranberry Island, Maine. Spurlington, Kentucky, is also named for a Spurling family, and Tasmania has a Mount Spurling named for a photographer's 1908 discovery.
  • Spurling public officials (variant spelling) · People strong
    Minor public officials and candidates with the related surname Spurling, including a 19th-century Maine postmaster, a 2004 Democratic National Convention alternate, a North Carolina town councilman and school-board member, and a Georgia county coroner.
  • The Spurlin name outside the United States · Culture strong
    Spurlin is an overwhelmingly American surname today, with about 98% of bearers in the United States. The spelling is older than American settlement: English archives record Spurlins in Middlesex and Bristol between 1670 and 1717, and 18th-century leases name a field called 'Spurlins' in Hertfordshire. Outside the U.S. the related form Spurling is far more common.

References

  1. ↑ ↑ Spurling Surname Meaning & Family History — Ancestry.com — Quotes DAFN 2nd ed.: 'English: variant of Sparling'; census distribution maps (US 1840, England and Wales 1891, Canada 1911) Reference
  2. ↑ Sparling Surname Meaning & Sparling Family History — Ancestry.com — Quotes DAFN 2nd ed. full etymology of Sparling Genealogy
  3. ↑ Spurling Surname: Meaning, Origin & Family History — SurnameDB (Internet Surname Database) Reference
  4. ↑ Spurling Surname Origin, Meaning & Last Name History — Forebears — 2014 country counts; 1881 England and Wales Reference
  5. ↑ Frequently Occurring Last Names in the 2020 Census by Race and Hispanic Origin — U.S. Census Bureau — Raw data file; SPURLING row: rank 11,100, count 2,729 Government
  6. ↑ Frequently Occurring Surnames from the 2010 Census (Names_2010Census.csv) — U.S. Census Bureau — Raw data file; SPURLING row: rank 11,312, count 2,792 Government
  7. ↑ Last name SPURLING: origin and meaning — Geneanet — Most common places in member trees Genealogy
  8. ↑ ↑ Spurling (surname list) — Wikipedia — Surname list, including Arthur, Bill, Bob, Claribel and Scott Spurling and Bell & Spurling; "See also" links J Spurling Ltd v Bradshaw Reference
  9. ↑ Spurlin Surname Meaning & Spurlin Family History — Ancestry.com — Quotes Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd ed. (2022): 'English: variant of Spurling' Reference
  10. ↑ Sperling Spurling — Overview — FamilyTreeDNA group project Genealogy

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Last reviewed 2026-09-24.