Allen


Select Allen Surname Genealogy

Alan was originally a Breton name.  St. Alan was a 5th century bishop in Quimper who had become a cult figure in medieval Brittany; and St. Alan was a 6th century Breton saint in Cornwall.  The name Alamnus was found on 10th century Breton coins.

Alan was already a popular Celtic-Breton name and is thought to have derived from the Celtic word aluinn meaning "fair" or "handsome."  Another meaning, in Scotland, is from the Gaelic word ailin, a diminutive of ail meaning "rock," and possibly describing someone who lived by a rock.

Surname spelling variants are Alleyne and (in Scotland) Allan.

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England.  The Bretons who came with William the Conqueror spread the name in England.  Many of those who spelt their name that way were descended from the soldiers who settled as farmers.  The name was being widely used in Lincolnshire in the late 12th century.  Thomas Allen was appointed High Sheriff of London in 1414 and Sir John Allen and William Allen were Lord Mayors of London in the following century.  One Allen branch, originating in the 13th century with Alanus de Buckenhall in Staffordshire, included the 16th century mathematician Thomas Allen and was later to be found in Portugal.

By the time of the 1881 census the highest frequencies of the Allen name were in the home counties of Huntingdon, Berkshire, and Bedfordshire.

Scotland and Ireland.  The Scottish variant of Allen is Allan, from the Gaelic MacAileain.  MacAllen was a Gaelic title born by some Highland chiefs.  Some MacAllans and Allans settled in Aberdeenshire in the 16th century.  There is also a village in Berwickshire called Allan from which Allans came. 

Donegal Allens have Scottish ancestry, from the Scottish MacAllens who came to Ireland as mercenaries in the 16th century.  Today most Allens in Ireland are to be found in Ulster.

America.  George Allen was an early arrival in New England, settling in Sandwich, Massachusetts in 1637. His descandants were later prosperous merchants in Providence, Rhode Island and included Zachariah Allen, the man who invented the cutoff valve for the steam engine.

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William Allen was an English Catholic priest who conspired with the Spanish to help organize the Spanish Armada.
Thomas Allen,from Staffordshire, was a 16th century mathematician.
Richard Allen, born a slave, was the founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1784.
Gracie Allen was an American comedienne who was the zany partner and comic foil for her husband George Burns.
Harry Allen was Britain's last hangman, officiating from 1941 to 1964.
Woody Allen, born Allan Konigsberg in Jewish Brooklyn, is the well-known American comedian, writer, and film director.
Paul Allen was the co-founder, with Bill Gates, of the computer giant Microsoft.
Lily Allen is an English pop singer.

Select Allens Today
  • 113,000 in the UK (most numerous in Hertfordshire)
  • 146,000 in America (most numerous in Texas)
  • 83,000 elsewhere (most numerous in Canada)

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For other surnames check the companion selectsurname.com site where there are to be found the history and genealogy for more than 500 surnames.

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