Show ContentsAlben History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

The vast movement of people that followed the Norman Conquest of England of 1066 brought the Alben family name to the British Isles. They lived in Normandy where it was derived from the ancient English given name Albin, meaning white.

Early Origins of the Alben family

The surname Alben was first found in St. Taurin, Evreux, Normandy, in the year 980, as St. Aubyn. This distinguished name arrived with the Conqueror through Sir John Aubyn, and settled in Barnstaple in Devon, where he became a patron of Barnstable Abbey. The family were granted many estates and they were recorded under the name Alban in the Domesday Book.

Early History of the Alben family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Alben research. The years 1560, 1597, 1624, 1629, 1636, 1658, 1688, 1690, 1696 and 1742 are included under the topic Early Alben History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Alben Spelling Variations

Anglo-Norman names are characterized by a multitude of spelling variations. When the Normans became the ruling people of England in the 11th century, they introduced a new language into a society where the main languages of Old and later Middle English had no definite spelling rules. These languages were more often spoken than written, so they blended freely with one another. Contributing to this mixing of tongues was the fact that medieval scribes spelled words according to sound, ensuring that a person's name would appear differently in nearly every document in which it was recorded. The name has been spelled Albone, Allibone, Hallibone, Albin, Allbahn, Alibone, Allbones, Allbone, Alban, Aubyn, Aubyn, Aubin, Auban, Ellibone, Elbin, Ellban, Ellbone and many more.

Early Notables of the Alben family

Outstanding amongst the family at this time was John Allibond (1597-1658), Master of Magdalen College School; Peter Allibond (1560-1629), an English translator of theological treatises from the French and Latin; Henry Albin (1624-1696), an English minister from Batcombe, Somerset who was...
Another 41 words (3 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Alben Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.


United States Alben migration to the United States +

For many English families, the political and religious disarray that plagued their homeland made the frontiers of the New World an attractive prospect. Thousands migrated, aboard cramped disease-ridden ships. They arrived sick, poor, and hungry, but were welcomed in many cases with far greater opportunity than at home in England. Many of these hardy settlers went on to make important contributions to the emerging nations in which they landed. Among early immigrants bearing the name Alben or a variant listed above were:

Alben Settlers in United States in the 19th Century
  • John Alben Jr., who landed in San Francisco, California in 1850 1

Contemporary Notables of the name Alben (post 1700) +

  • Alben W Barkley (1877-1956), American Democratic politician, 35th Vice-President of the United States (1949-1953)
  • Alben W. II Barkley, American Democratic Party politician, Kentucky commissioner of agriculture; Elected 1979 2


  1. 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)
  2. The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2016, January 21) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html


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