Lelane History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England
Scotland

Lelane is a name of ancient Anglo-Saxon origin and comes from the family once having lived in Leyland, in Lancashire. The place-name Leyland is derived from the Old English elements læge and land, and means "untilled land." 1 It was recorded as Lailand in the Domesday Book, 2 compiled in 1086 on the orders of William the Conqueror. The family name is derived from the place-name and means "dweller by the uncultivated land."

Early Origins of the Lelane family

The surname Lelane was first found in Lancashire where they held a family seat from very ancient times, some say well before the Norman Conquest and the arrival of Duke William at Hastings in 1066 A.D. There are actually two parishes in Lancashire bearing the name Layland or Leyland. "The Lancashire Leyland was Leylaund, Leylond, Leyland, Laylond, Lelarid in the 13th century." 3

The first record of the family was actually found in neighbouring Yorkshire when Johannes Leyland was listed in the Yorkshire Poll Tax Rolls of 1379. 4

Leyland Motors Limited, the British vehicle manufacturer of lorries, buses and trolleybuses was based in Leyland, Lancashire. Founded in 1896, the original company is now defunct.

Early History of the Lelane family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Lelane research. Another 91 words (6 lines of text) covering the years 1210, 1503, 1552, 1670, 1679, 1691 and 1766 are included under the topic Early Lelane History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Lelane 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 Lelane family name include Leyland, Leland, Lelland, Leeland, Lealand and others.

Early Notables of the Lelane family

Another 39 words (3 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Lelane Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Lelane 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 Lelane surname or a spelling variation of the name include:

Lelane Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

Hanna Lelane, aged 22, who arrived in New York in 1854 5
John Lelane, aged 20, who landed in New York in 1854 5

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)
Harrison, Henry, Surnames of the United Kingdom: A Concise Etymological Dictionary Baltimore: Geneological Publishing Company, 2013. Print
Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)
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)