The Surname
of Allen
.gif)
Allen
Coat of Arms (English)*
|
|
.gif)
Allen
Coat of Arms (Irish)*
|
|
.gif)
Allen
Coat of Arms (French)* |
Allen -
English, Irish & Scottish
The name Allen is a Celtic personal
name of great antiquity and obscurity. In England the personal name
is now usually spelled Alan, the surname Allen; in Scotland the
surname is more often Allan. Various suggestions have been put
forward regarding its origin; the most plausible is that it
originally meant ‘little rock’. Compare Gaelic ailín, diminutive of
ail ‘rock’. The present-day frequency of the surname Allen in
England and Ireland is partly accounted for by the popularity of the
personal name among Breton followers of William the Conqueror, by
whom it was imported first to Britain and then to Ireland. St.
Alan(us) was a 5th-century bishop of Quimper, who was a cult figure
in medieval Brittany. Another St. Al(l)an was a Cornish or Breton
saint of the 6th century, to whom a church in Cornwall is dedicated.
Partly taken from:
Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University
Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4

* Coat of Arms belonged to
families and/or individual persons. People with the Surname
of Allen came from England, Germany, the Netherlands & many
other places. Allens from a different countries would have a
different Coat of Arms. |