The surname of BILLINGS was a locational name 'of Billing' a parish in the diocese of Peterborough. Local names usually denoted where a man held his land, and indicated where he actually lived. Surnames before the Norman Conquest of 1066 were rare in England having been brought by the Normans when William the Conqueror invaded the shores. The practice spread to Scotland and Ireland by the 12th century, and in Wales they appeared as late as the 16th century. Most surnames can be traced to one of four sources, locational, from the occupation of the original bearer, nicknames or simply font names based on the first name of the parent being given as the second name to their child. Early records of the name mention Agnes Billyng, documented during the reign of Edward III (1327-1377). Adam Billinge, County Suffolk, ibid. Edward Billings of Yorkshire, was listed in the Yorkshire Poll Tax of 1379, and William Billing appears in County Lancashire in the year 1400. A later instance of the name mentions John Billings of County Denbigh who registered at Oxford University in the year 1581. Most of the European surnames in countries such as England, Scotland and France were formed in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The process had started somewhat earlier and had continued in some places into the 19th century, but the norm is that in the tenth and eleventh centuries people did not have surnames, whereas by the fifteenth century most of the population had acquired a second name. The associated arms are recorded in Sir Bernard Burkes General Armory. Ulster King of Arms in 1884. |
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