Walburn History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England

The name Walburn reached England in the great wave of migration following the Norman Conquest of 1066. The Walburn family lived in Lincolnshire. Their name is derived from the Old English word welle, meaning well, and the Old Norse word brunnr, meaning stream or spring, and indicates that the original bearer lived near a well by a stream or spring. 1

The Domesday Book of 1086 has three listings: Welborne (Walebruna), Norfolk; Welbourne (Wellebrune), Lincolnshire; and Welburn (Wellebrune), North Yorkshire. 2

Early Origins of the Walburn family

The surname Walburn was first found in Lincolnshire where they were Lords of the manor of Welbourn and conjecturally descended from a Norman noble, Robert Malet, who was granted the church and mill by King William the Conqueror in 1066. The ancestry of Robert goes back to Graville near Havre in Normandy in 990, where he was descended from Algar, the seventh Earl of Mercia. 3

Early rolls gave a glimpse at the various spellings in use over the years: Walebrun was recorded in Lincolnshire c. 1155; Robert Walebrun was registered in the Subsidy Rolls for Sussex in 1296; and John Walebron was listed in the Subsidy Rolls for Sussex in 1327. 4 The Hundredorum Rolls of 1273 had one entry for the family, that of Hugh de Welleburn, Lincolnshire. 5

Early History of the Walburn family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Walburn research. Another 42 words (3 lines of text) covering the years 1605, 1640, 1697, 1699, 1702 and 1929 are included under the topic Early Walburn History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Walburn Spelling Variations

Before English spelling was standardized a few hundred years ago, spelling variations of names were a common occurrence. Elements of Latin, Norman French and other languages became incorporated into English throughout the Middle Ages, and name spellings changed even among the literate. The variations of the surname Walburn include Welborne, Welborn, Welbourne, Welburn and others.

Early Notables of the Walburn family

Outstanding amongst the family at this time was Thomas Welbourne (Welbourn) (executed at York, 1 August 1605), an English Roman Catholic teacher, Catholic martyr, beatified in 1929. Thomas Wellborn (also: Welbourn, Welbourne, Wellbourne), (1640-1702), served as Captain in the King's Militia, and...
Another 41 words (3 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Walburn Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Walburn Ranking

In the United States, the name Walburn is the 14,446^th most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. 6

Walburn migration to the United States +

In England at this time, the uncertainty of the political and religious environment of the time caused many families to board ships for distant British colonies in the hopes of finding land and opportunity, and escaping persecution. The voyages were expensive, crowded, and difficult, though, and many arrived in North America sick, starved, and destitute. Those who did make it, however, were greeted with greater opportunities and freedoms that they could have experienced at home. Many of those families went on to make important contributions to the young nations in which they settled. Early immigration records have shown some of the first Walburns to arrive on North American shores:

Walburn Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

Gesche Walburn, who arrived in New York, NY in 1848 7

Contemporary Notables of the name Walburn (post 1700) +

Fred Walburn (1929-2022), American actor from Los Angeles, California, known for Mail and Female (1937), Lady of Burlesque (1943) and On the Sunny Side (1942)
Michael Walburn, American cinematographer, known for I'm Writing a Novel About It (2015), The Hit Upon (2015) and Celebrity Sex Tape (2012)
Raymond Walburn (1887-1969), American character actor, known for his roles in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), Hail the Conquering Hero (1944) and The Sin of Harold Diddlebock (1947)

Citations +

Mills, A.D., Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-19-869156-4)
Williams, Dr Ann. And G.H. Martin, Eds., Domesday Book A Complete Translation. London: Penguin, 1992. Print. (ISBN 0-141-00523-8)
The Norman People and Their Existing Descendants in the British Dominions and the United States Of America. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1975. Print. (ISBN 0-8063-0636-X)
Reaney, P.H and R.M. Wilson, A Dictionary of English Surnames. London: Routledge, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-415-05737-X)
Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)
"What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)