Show ContentsWallin History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Etymology of Wallin

What does the name Wallin mean?

The Swedish surname Wallin is an ornamental name from the Swedish words "wall and vall", meaning "grassy bank, pasture or grazing ground", perhaps adopted in some cases as a topographic name by "someone who lived by a grassy bank".

Ornamental compound surnames include Wallberg (pasture hill), Wallgren (pasture branch), Wallstrom (pasture river) and Wahlquist (pasture twig).

Wallin Spelling Variations

Spelling variations of this family name include: Wahl, Wallen, Wallin, Wallenius, Wallner, Wallman, Wallander and many more.

Wallin Ranking

In the United States, the name Wallin is the 4,952nd most popular surname with an estimated 4,974 people with that name. 1


Wallin migration to the United States +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Wallin Settlers in United States in the 17th Century
  • Rebecca Wallin, who arrived in Virginia in 1665 2
Wallin Settlers in United States in the 18th Century
  • John Wallin, who settled in New England in 1764
Wallin Settlers in United States in the 19th Century
  • Geo Wallin, who arrived in New Orleans, La in 1813 2
  • Samuel Wallin, who landed in New York in 1833 2
  • Mr. Wallin, who settled in New York in 1841
  • Carl Johan Wallin, aged 22, who landed in New York in 1841 2
  • E Wallin, aged 36, who landed in Boston, Massachusetts in 1842 2
  • ... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Wallin migration to Canada +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Wallin Settlers in Canada in the 19th Century
  • Timothy Wallin, aged 30, who arrived in Saint John, New Brunswick in 1833 aboard the brig "Thomas Hanford" from Cork, Ireland

Wallin migration to New Zealand +

Emigration to New Zealand followed in the footsteps of the European explorers, such as Captain Cook (1769-70): first came sealers, whalers, missionaries, and traders. By 1838, the British New Zealand Company had begun buying land from the Maori tribes, and selling it to settlers, and, after the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, many British families set out on the arduous six month journey from Britain to Aotearoa to start a new life. Early immigrants include:

Wallin Settlers in New Zealand in the 19th Century
  • Miss Maria Wallin, (b. 1838), aged 26, British settler travelling from Plymouth aboard the ship "Ivanhoe" arriving in Lyttelton, Christchurch, South Island, New Zealand on 13th June 1864 3
  • Miss Erika Christine Wallin, (b. 1854), aged 18, Scandinavian maid servant travelling from Hamburg aboard the ship "Palmerston" arriving in Dunedin, Otago, South Island, New Zealand on 12th December 1872 4

Contemporary Notables of the name Wallin (post 1700) +

  • John Edward Wallace Wallin (1876-1969), American psychologist and an early proponent of educational services for the mentally handicapped
  • Alfred Wallin (1836-1923), American judge, one of the first three justices of the Supreme Court of North Dakota from 1889 to 1902
  • Carl Efraim Wallin (1879-1968), Swedish-American artist and painting contractor
  • Daniel Guy Wallin (1927-2024), American two-time Academy Award nominated sound engineer who worked on more than 500 films since 1965 including Woodstock (1970) and A Star Is Born (1976)
  • James Wallin (1942-2015), American politician, Mayor of Brainerd, Minnesota (1998-2015)
  • Vice Admiral Homer Norman Wallin (1893-1984), United States Navy officer
  • Alfred Wallin (1836-1923), American judge, one of the first three Justices of the Supreme Court of North Dakota from 1889 to 1902
  • Tore Wallin, American politician, Mayor of Boca Raton, Florida, 1970-71 5
  • Samuel Wallin (1856-1917), American Republican politician, Mayor of Amsterdam, New York, 1900-01; U.S. Representative from New York 30th District, 1913-15; Delegate to Republican National Convention from New York, 1916 5
  • Norm Wallin, American Republican politician, Delegate to Republican National Convention from Montana, 1988 5
  • ... (Another 17 notables are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)


  1. "What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
  2. 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)
  3. New Zealand Yesteryears Passenger Lists 1800 to 1900 (Retrieved 17th October 2018). Retrieved from http://www.yesteryears.co.nz/shipping/passlist.html
  4. New Zealand Yesteryears Passenger Lists 1800 to 1900 (Retrieved 26th March 2019). Retrieved from http://www.yesteryears.co.nz/shipping/passlist.html
  5. The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2015, December 11) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html


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