COWLING
Cowling is an English surname of both occupational and locational origin, attested in the British Isles from the early Middle Ages onward.
The occupational derivation traces back to the Old English word col, meaning coal or charcoal. The name was originally applied to individuals engaged in coal trading or charcoal production, such as coal merchants or charcoal burners. As these families settled and intermarried, the surname became hereditary and spread across various parts of England and the wider English‑speaking world.
Alternatively, Cowling may be understood as a locational surname derived from villages bearing that name in Yorkshire. Two such places exist: one in North Yorkshire and another in West Yorkshire. The North‑Yorkshire settlement is documented in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Torneton, and in 1202 as Thornton Colling. By the early fourteenth century the name had been shortened to Collyng; this was treated as a personal name, and later evolved into the modern form Cowling, signifying an early owner of the property. The West‑Yorkshire location appears in the Domesday Book as Collinghe, meaning the place by Coll hill. The hill itself is named Coll, derived from an Old English pre‑seventeenth‑century personal name, while the surname in this context may ultimately stem from the Old Norse personal name kollingr, which was anglicised to Cowling.
The earliest recorded spelling of the family name is that of Mathew de Couling, a witness in 1260 whose name appears in the Assize Rolls of Cambridgeshire during the reign of King Henry the First, known by the sobriquet The Frenchman, 1216‑1272.
In contemporary times, Cowling is a recognised hereditary surname found in England and in other English‑speaking countries. Historical records, such as the twentieth‑century census returns, illustrate its continued presence in a range of regions spanning the United Kingdom.
Overall, the Cowling surname exemplifies the dual heritage common to many English family names, embodying both a practical link to medieval occupations and a tie to geographic places recorded in the earliest surviving English documents.
Typical given names associated with the Cowling surname
Male
- Andrew
- Christopher
- David
- James
- John
- Mark
- Michael
- Paul
- Peter
- Richard
- Robert
Female
- Christine
- Claire
- Elizabeth
- Helen
- Joanne
- Margaret
- Nicola
- Patricia
- Rebecca
- Sarah
- Susan
Similar and related surnames
- Cowlin
- Colin
- Cling
- Coling
- Coaling
- Cawling
- Coleing
- Colinge
- Colingham
- Colings
- Colins
- Colling
- Collingan
- Collinge
- Collinger
- Collingr
- Collings
- Cooling
- Couling
- Cowlings
- Cowlling
- Kolling
- Coalin
- Colington
- Colingwood
- Collin
- Collines
- Collingdon
- Collingham
- Collinghan
- Collingson
- Collington
- Collinns
- Collins
- Colllins
- Coulling
- Cowlyn
- Clingo
- Colding
- Collingwood
- Gowling
- Keeling
Related and similar names are generated algorithmically based on the spelling, and may not necessarily share an etymology.
How to communicate the surname Cowling in...
Braille
⠉⠕⠺⠇⠊⠝⠛
Morse
-.-.---.--.-....-.--.
Semaphore
There are approximately 5,274 people named Cowling in the UK. That makes it roughly the 1,793rd most common surname in Britain. Around 81 in a million people in Britain are named Cowling.
Surname type: Location or geographical feature
Origin: English
Region of origin: British Isles
Country of origin: England
Religion of origin: Christian
Language of origin: English
Famous people named Cowling
- Maurice Cowling - Historian (1926 to 2005)
- Brenda Cowling - Actress (1925 to 2010)
- Thomas Cowling - Astronomer (1906 to 1990)
- David Cowling - Football player
- George Cowling - Weather forecaster (1920 to 2009)
- Lee Cowling - Football player
Names and descriptions courtesy of Wikipedia, and may contain errors. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of every famous person with this name.