Origin of the Name Urwin
The ancient history of the name
Urwin was found in the allfamilycrests.com archives.
Over the centuries Surnames developed a wide number of variants. Different spellings of the same name can be traced back to an original root. Additionally when a bearer of a name emigrated it was not uncommon that their original name would be incorrectly transcribed in the record books at their new location. Surnames were also often altered over the years based on how they sounded phonetically and depending on the prevailing political conditions it may have been advantageous to change a name from one language to another.
Variants of the name Urwin
include Urwyn, Irvine, Irving, Irvin, Irwin, Urwin, Urwen, Erwin and Ervin. These names are of locational origin, from a parish in Dumfriesshire and from Irvine in Ayrshire. Robert de Hirewine appears in records as early as the thirteenth century, and a William de Irwyne obtained the Forest of Drum in 1324 from Robert I, and is thus the ancestor of the Irvines of Drum. In Ireland the best known of the Irvines are those of Irvinestown, Fermanagh. The name first appears officially in the census returns in the year 1861. They became a very influential landlord family and in 1878, eight landlords of the name possessed over 12,000 acres in Fermanagh. Urwin can also be a form of Irwin, taken from the Gaelic O'hEireamhoin sept of County Offaly, who also anglicized their name as O'Herwin.
The Urwin coat of arms came into existence centuries ago. The process of creating coats of arms (also often called family crests) began in the eleventh century although a form of Proto-Heraldry may have existed in some countries prior to this. The new art of Heraldry made it possible for families and even individual family members to have their very own coat of arms, including all Urwin descendants.