Doun History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England
Scotland
Ireland

Doun is a name of ancient Anglo-Saxon origin and comes from the family once having lived in an area that was described by a downward slope. The surname was originally derived from the Anglo-Saxon word dun which means a hill.

Early Origins of the Doun family

The surname Doun was first found in Sussex. Another branch was located at Roosdown in Devon. "This place, which was formerly a parish, was anciently called Ralphdown, from its owner, Ralph de Downe, in the reign of Henry II." 1

Early History of the Doun family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Doun research. Another 329 words (24 lines of text) covering the years 1066, 1226, 1270, 1327, 1350, 1379, 1407, 1445, 1549, 1570, 1609, 1619, 1628, 1631, 1662, 1666, 1710, 1779, 1805, 1810 and 1890 are included under the topic Early Doun History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Doun Spelling Variations

Sound was what guided spelling in the essentially pre-literate Middle Ages, so one person's name was often recorded under several variations during a single lifetime. Also, before the advent of the printing press and the first dictionaries, the English language was not standardized. Therefore, spelling variations were common, even among the names of the most literate people. Known variations of the Doun family name include Down, Downe, Downer, Doune, Douner, Dounner, Downner and many more.

Early Notables of the Doun family

Distinguished members of the family include

Andrew Downes, also known as Dounaeus, (c. 1549-1628), English classical scholar, one of the seven translators of the Apocrypha for the King James Version of the Bible

Migration of the Doun family to Ireland

Some of the Doun family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt.
Another 50 words (4 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Doun migration to the United States +

For political, religious, and economic reasons, thousands of English families boarded ships for Ireland, Canada, the America colonies, and many of smaller tropical colonies in the hope of finding better lives abroad. Although the passage on the cramped, dank ships caused many to arrive in the New World diseased and starving, those families that survived the trip often went on to make valuable contributions to those new societies to which they arrived. Early immigrants bearing the Doun surname or a spelling variation of the name include:

Doun Settlers in United States in the 17th Century

Tho Doun, aged 25, who landed in New England in 1635 2
Clement Doun, aged 22, who landed in Virginia in 1635 2
Mr. Henry Doun, aged 23, who arrived in Virginia in 1635 aboard the ship "Assurance" 3

Citations +

Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England. Institute of Historical Research, 1848, Print.
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)
Pilgrim Ship's of 1600's. Retrieved January 6th 2023 from https://www.packrat-pro.com/ships/shiplist.htm