Harlan Name Origin

The information below is from the great Harlanfamily.org website. This website is for all the persons descended from the Harlan brothers who immigrated to the British Colonies in 1687. The site has a tremendous about of information.

Origin of the Name Harlan

Submitted on 1 June 1999 by John H Harland, e-mail: jharland@smartt.com Kelowna B C

Is it necessary, or even possible, to try to explain the original meaning of the name Harlan? The matter can at best be of peripheral interest to those who follow the fortunes of the Harlans in America ...and particularly those who feel that the history of the family properly starts with the arrival of George and Michael Harland in the Colonies in 1687. [Remember that the organization founded at Philadelhpia in 1887 was named very specificallly "The Association of the Descendants of George and Micheal Harlan in the United States."]. However, I venture to offer the following preliminary comments in the hope they may, sometime in the future, encourage some family-member with an interest in the broader picture, to research things in a more serious and deliberate manner.

The advent of websites like 'Peoplefinder' have unearthed many surnames which can be either English or German. What is a bit unusual about the Harlan/Harland instance is the existence of parallel forms in both cases. A snapshot taken as we approach the year 2000, shows that in the United States, the form 'Harlan' far outnumbers 'Harland', while in the United Kingdom and Canada, the reverse is true. In Germany, the distribution is about equal. From an American perspective, the names are really the same, the terminal 'd' first having been dropped by George and Michael Harland, or their immediate progeny, but as we shall see, the Harlan/Harland variation in Germany may have arisen in different fashion. In the North of Ireland, as for the most part in England, the 'd' spelling is invariably used. I know that my grandfather, John Harland (1854-1948) was cognizant of the American form of the name, because he carried on a sporadic correspondence with John Marshall Harlan (1833-1911). What a magistrate in Bessbrook, County Armagh and an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court might have had in common remains a puzzle.

Based upon telephone listings (http://www.lycos.com/peoplefind/), there are nowadays about 50% more Harlans/Harlands combined in Germany than there are in the United Kingdom, but despite this, I would argue that the vast majority of Americans with either of these names in their patrilineal line will be of English descent, and furthermore that those without a 'd' will overhwelmingly prove to be descendants of George and Michael Harland.

There are some exceptions to this broad assertion. First of all, substantial numbers of Harlans, Harlands and Harlanders are found in Germany, and it seems certain that some of their relatives would have come to the United States. . Christoph M Harlan, <cmosheh@earthlink.net> who contributes to this forum from time to time, is a prime example. Then, at <http://www.feefhs.org/fbvca/1872h1.html>, we found a list of Foreign-Born Voters of California in 1872, compiled by Jim W. Faulkinbury, including:

Harlam, Isaac...... 26 in 1867......born in Prussia...... Harlan, Michael...... 67 in 1867......born in Ireland...... Harland, Thos...... 41 in ----...... born in England...... Harland, William......46 in 1867......born in Ireland...... Harland, William......30 in 1869......born in Prussia......

If the last two have descendants in California, sorting out who is 'Irish' and who is 'Prussian', will demand skillful detective work.. An even more exotic example is found at the related site <http://www.feefhs.org/pl/vm/vm-hi.html>,....recipients of the Polish Order of the Military Virtue, include a Jerzy Harland.

Returning to the origin of the name itself, as place- and family-name, we focus on the first element, but it will be instructive to examine names, other than Harland, which begin with the element 'H*r'. The 'land' part is, I think, pretty straightforward. At the end of the post are appended the titles of some books dealing with surname origins. I did not have access to most of these, but through the kind offices of others, particularly my friends Anthony D Clover and Martin Evans, have some idea of what they have to say. I must underline that the researcher in this area must live with an uncomfortable level of speculation and uncertainty .....it is frustrating to find so many instances of "Element so-and-so might mean X, but then on the other hand, it might mean Y..."

Basil Cottle *Penguin Dictionary of Surnames* says:
"Harland. 'cairn/rock/tumulus land' Old English; place in North Yorkshire where there are some tumuli, and mostly a North and East Yorkshire surname."

P. Hanks & F. Hodges. *A Dictionary of Surnames* offer:
"Harland. English: habitation name from any of various minor places (including perhaps some now lost) named from Old English 'har'.= 'grey'; or 'hara' = 'hare', + land, patch of country. "

I am much indebted to Erasmus Harland <erasmus@cliffg.freeserve.co.uk> for the information in the next few paragraphs. The North Yorkshire Moors lie in an area south of the River Tees, defined by Middlesbrough and Whitby to the north, Scarborough to the southeast, and Thirsk at the south-west corner. On the southern edge of the Moors, several valleys in the headwaters of the River Derwent, run south towards the A170, the east-west highway connecting Scarborough and Thirsk. One of these is called Ferndale, and in it are found Gillamoor, Kirbymoorside, Hutton-le-Hole and Harland Moor.

The striking feature of Harland Moor is the rocky nature of its landscape. There are a number of tumuli or stony cairns either burial mounds of the Bronze Age 1400-1600 BC or later Iron Age., and the remains of celtic field plots cleared of stones for cultivation by hand or ard (Celtic wooden plough). A farm near Gillamoor is known to this day as the 'High Harland', and Harland Moor lies to the east of this, somewhat to the north of Hutton-le-Hole. . Erasmus Harland was given several interesting citations by Raymond Harland Hayes, who at one time lived in Hutton-le-Hole: In 1282, an inquest was held at Kirbymoorside on one Baldwin Wake, and it was recorded:

"There are five tenants on the Harlonde holding certain waste (moorland) plots beneath Gillamoor Bank at the will of the lord, paying 27 shillings per year and doing service to the lord; also providing a bushel of nuts at Martinmas and a hen at Christmas".

In 1310, Nicholas de Harland of Farndale was fined because his cattle had strayed in the forest (North Riding records). In 1327, . Walter de Harland of Farndale paid tax of 3 shillings , while the Lord of the Manor paid 5 shillings. About 1600, there is mention of a Gregory Harland of Farndale.

Erasmus Harland says that although few Harlands live on the Moors today, the old records, notably the Durham Marriage Register, show well over a hundred marriages of Harlands in Whitby and other North Yorkshire villages, confirming that the name had arisen in that general neighbourhood.

There is at least one other place in the United Kingdom with a similar name. In Henry Barber: *British Family Names, Their Origin & Meaning*. London, 1903, we find: "Harland: A location name, Caithness." Mr Iain Sutherland of the Wick Centre, and Mr Bruce de Wert of D W Georgeson & Son, Wick were kind enough to confirm that indeed, there is near the town of Wick, in North-eastern Scotland, a mound about a kilometer across, called 'The Harland'. Although only about ten meters high, it dominates the surrounding countryside, which is relatively flat. Mr Sutherland thought that it might be so named either because it was 'high' or because at one time, 'hay' may have been grown on it. [Many of the place names in that part of Scotland are Scandinavian rather than Gaelic, and Norwegian 'h�y' (hay), 'h�g' (high), and 'haug' (mound, hill), would fit very well with this idea.] I asked Mr Sutherland whether a cairn, standing stone, etc. was associated with The Harland, and he assured me this was not the case. The reason for pressing him on this particular point is the existence of a Scandinavian root meaning 'cairn'; 'stone altar' and perhaps by extension, 'stony ground' ...Old Swedish 'Hargh' . This turns up in place names, like 'Odinshargh' ...'Odin's Altar'.

The great expert on English place-names was the Swede, Eilert Ekwall, and in his book *Oxford Dictionary of Place Names*, he depended on charters and other documentary sources. I was disappointed to discover that no 'Harland' is listed in his book. Here is a very slightly edited extract of his comment on the Old English word 'har':

"This adjective, meaning 'hoary, grey', is a fairly common first element in place names, though by no means so frequent as has been sometimes assumed. It often occurs combined with stone, as in Harston, Hoarstone, Horston, and 'hoarstone', literally 'a grey lichen-covered stone', came to be a technical term for such a stone as a boundary mark. It is with certainty only combined with words for objects that are naturally grey, as with cross (Hoar Cross), oak (Harrock), withy (Hoarwithy), hill (Harlow), wood (Harewood, Hampshire).

"It is often stated that the Old English 'har' had developed the meaning 'boundary', 'boundary-defining'. This theory is not well founded. It is unlikely, or at any rate not been proved, that the first element of names beginning in 'Har(e)-', as Harden, Harewood, is generally the adjective 'har'. There is every probability that some names such as Harewood, Hargrave, Harrop contain the word 'hara' meaning 'hare'.

"We must also reckon with an element 'h�r' or the like that has only recently been discovered. It is certainly found in Harome, North Yorkshire, Herne, Bedfordshire and may be suspected to enter into some other names such as Harrold, Harnage, Harnhill, &C. The exact meaning and Old English form are unknown.

"It is related to the Swedish 'har' (neuter) meaning 'stony ground', a Low German and Dutch 'har', 'hare' that is found in many place names as Haar, Haren (in early sources 'Hare', 'Harun' &c.) and which is stated to mean 'height', 'ridge', 'height covered with wood'.

"The Old English form may have been 'h�r' (neuter). The words are related to the Irish and Welsh 'carn' meaning 'cairn' and a derivative is very likely the Old English 'hearg' meaning 'heathen temple' and the Old Norse 'horg' meaning 'heap of stones' or 'altar' (originally specifically a 'stone altar'). The meaning of Old English 'h�r' may have been 'stone' or 'stony ground'."

In a note elsewhere on Old English 'hearg' meaning 'a heathen place of worship', Ekwall says it is identical with the Old High German 'haruc' meaning 'grove' or 'holy place' and Old Norse 'horgr' Hall's *Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary* offers: Hearg. = 'temple', 'altar', 'sanctuary', with a possible alternative meaning 'grove'. [I have omitted some the accents and subscripts which should be associated typographically with the vowels, from some of these archaic words].

'Haar' is a word still current on the East coast of Scotland and Northern England in the sense of a mist which rolls in from the sea (presumably so called because of its grey quality), and it seems the name Harland is likewise connected with the color 'grey'; with a 'hare', which etymologically is itself connected with a root meaning 'grey'; with a pagan stone altar; and by extension stony ground; or a grove of trees.

Reaney & Wilson: *Dictionary of English Surnames* give a meaning of Harland as 'dweller by the boundary wood' [perhaps this involved a grove of trees, a stone, or stone-heap that marked such a division]. They trace its origins to points further south in England, and to a date somewhat earlier that the 'ultimate' Harlan ancestor cited by Alphaeus Harlan, James Harland b. 1625 'at Bishoprick, nigh Durham' , father of Thomas, George and Michael Harland.

They illustrate the name with the following listings:

Peter de Herland : 1221 Assize Rolls for Warwickshire Adam Herlond : 1332 Subsidy Rolls for Warwickshire Thomas Harland : 1525 Subsidy Rolls for Sussex

and mention Harland Edge (Derby), Harlands Wood (Sussex).

Perhaps the notion of 'boundary wood' arises because such a boundary was marked by a stone; a cairn; or a grove of trees. Other possible roots for h*r can be invoked. For instance, it might be 'here-land' from Anglo-Saxon 'here' = 'army', 'predatory troop') Eilert Ekwall points out that Harlow would mean 'the mound of the people' i.e. a meeting place of a 'hundred' and Harlow in Essex was indeed a Hundred. Reaney and Wilson considered that names like Harling and variants, might originally have meant 'earl-friend'; Harbottle = 'dwelling of a hireling'; Harborne = 'dirty stream',

In summary: It is quite possible that the surname Harland arose in different ways, in different parts of the country. However, it is the Yorkshire version that is of significance to the descendancy of George and Michael Harland. Monkswearmouth and Bishoprick, near Durham, from whence their family sprang, lie about fifty miles to the north of Harland Moor, as the crow flies. Reviewing the possible origins of the name, outlined above, it is on the stoniness, or stone cairns characteristic of that specific area that we should focus. The existence of 'The Harland' in Scotland is interesting, but from a geographical point of view, not really relevant .