Origin of the Name Franklin
The
Franklin family history 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 Franklin
include Frankling, Franklyn, Franklen and Francklin. This name means 'freeholder', a free man and holder of many extensive areas of land, a gentle man ranked above the main body of freeholders. This name is of Anglo-Saxon descent spreading to the Celtic countries of Ireland , Scotland and Wales in early times and is found in many mediaeval manuscripts throughout these countries. Examples of such are a Robert le Fraunkelyn, Buckinghamshire, who was recorded in the 'Hundred Rolls', England , in the year 1273. A Willemus Fraunkeleyn was recorded in the 'Poll Tax' of the West Riding of Yorkshire in the year 1379. The American Statesman, Benjamin Franklin was of English descent, his father emigrating in 1682. In Ireland the name Franklin has been established in Counties Limerick and Tipperary since the seventeenth century. It is also found in Ulster Province.
The Franklin 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 Franklin descendants.