- Wilburn
Name History
The name Wilburn was brought to
England by theNormans when they conquered the country in 1066. The ancestors of the Wilburn family lived inLincolnshire . Their name is derived from theOld English word "welle", meaning well, and theOld Norse word "brunnr", meaning stream or spring, and indicates that the original bearer lived near a well by a stream or spring.Endless
spelling variations are a prevailing characteristic of Normansurnames . Old andMiddle English lacked any definite spelling rules, and the introduction ofNorman French added an unfamiliar ingredient to the English linguistic stew. French andLatin , the languages of the court, also influenced spellings. Finally,medieval scribes generally spelled words according to how they sounded, so one person was often referred to by different spellings in different documents. The name has been spelled Welborne, Welborn, Welbourne, Welburn and others.First found in
Lincolnshire where they wereLords of the manor of Welborne and conjecturally descended from a Norman noble,Robert Malet , who was granted the church and mill by KingWilliam the Conqueror in 1066.To escape the political and
religious persecution within England at the time, many English families left for the variousBritish colonies abroad. The voyage was extremely difficult, though, and the cramped, dank ships caused many to arrive in theNew World diseased and starving. But for those who made it, the trip was most often worth it. Many of the families who arrived went on to make valuable contributions to the emerging nations ofCanada and theUnited States . An inquiry into the early roots of North American families reveals a number of immigrants bearing the name Wilburn or a variant listed above: Sam, Mathew, and Robert Welbourne settled inVirginia in 1652.Heraldry
Arms: "Argent, three lozenges in fess, each charged with a fountain argent and azure between three greyhounds' heads erased sable, collared gules, ringed or."
Crest : "A hand holding three darts."ources
Citation: [http://www.houseofnames.com/xq/asp.fc/qx/wilburn-family-crest.htm Wilburn Information]
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