Trahin History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
Wales

The Trahin surname comes from the ancient Welsh personal name Trahern. Some instances of the surname are derived from the name of the settlement of Trehane in Cornwall.

Early Origins of the Trahin family

The surname Trahin was first found in Flintshire (Welsh: Sir y Fflint), a historic county, created after the defeat of the Welsh Kingdom of Gwynedd in 1284, and located in north-east Wales, where they held a family seat at Trehaverne (Tregavran) which was referenced in the Domesday Book.

This area is now known as Kenywn and is a civil parish in Cornwall. Kenwyn is now regarded as a suburb of the city of Truro and gives its name to one of three rivers that flow through the city. However, the surname is believed to be descended from Traherne (Trahaearn ap Caradog) son of Caradoc, Prince of North Wales in 1073. 1

Today Trehan is a hamlet near Saltash in Cornwall, England.

Early History of the Trahin family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Trahin research. Another 98 words (7 lines of text) covering the years 1510, 1558, 1603, 1635, 1636, 1644, 1674 and 1686 are included under the topic Early Trahin History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Trahin Spelling Variations

There are relatively few surnames native to Wales, but they have an inordinately large number of spelling variations. Early variations of Welsh surnames can be explained by the fact that very few people in the early Middle Ages were literate. Priests and the few other literate people were responsible for recording names in official documents. And because most people could not specific how to properly record their names it was up to the individual recorder of that time to determine how a spoken name should be recorded. Variations due to the imprecise or improper recording of a name continued later in history when names originally composed in the Brythonic Celtic, language of Wales, known by natives as Cymraeg, were transliterated into English. Welsh names that were documented in English often changed dramatically since the native language of Wales, which was highly inflected, did not copy well. Occasionally, however, spelling variations were carried out according to an individual's specific design: a branch loyalty within the family, a religious adherence, or even patriotic affiliations could be indicated by minor variations. The spelling variations of the name Trahin have included Traherne, Trahern, Treherne, Trehern, Traherne, Trahairn, Trahearne, Trahane, Trahan, Trehearn, Trahearn, Trehane and many more.

Early Notables of the Trahin family

Prominent amongst the family during the late Middle Ages was Bartholomew Traheron (1510?-1558?), Protestant writer, born about 1510, descended from an ancient Cornish family, and is said to have been a native of...
Another 32 words (2 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Trahin Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Trahin migration to the United States +

North America in the 1800s and 1900s saw the arrival of many Welsh people hoping to share in the wealth of land, work, and freedom that they felt North America held. Those who made the journey often attained those expectations, but only through an enormous amount of hard work, perseverance, and often a bout of good luck. These immigrants helped contribute to the growth of industry, commerce, and culture of both Canada and the United States. Discovered in the immigration and passenger lists were a number of people bearing the name Trahin:

Trahin Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

Joseph Trahin, who landed in St Clair County, Illinois in 1880 2

Citations +

Smith, George (ed), Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1885-1900. 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)