Allen: A Surname History

Description

Allen: A Surname History — Volume 37 of The Surname Histories Series. The son of Alan — from Old Breton Alan through Middle English and Old French Alain and Alein, the clerk’s patronymic for Alan’s son; Breton–Norman first (Alain le Roux with the Conqueror in 1066, the personal name running deepest in Lincolnshire), with the Celtic streams (Scottish Gaelic Ailín from 1139 — the surname usually Allan; Irish Ó hAilín, “descendant of Ailín,” of Leinster; Ulster Allan of the Scottish settlers) and French Allain in the stream. ALLEN stands No. 33 in the 2010 U.S. Census with 482,607 bearers — up from No. 32 in 2000 (463,368), a +4.2% rise (+19,239 bearers) — sitting directly behind Young at #32 and completing the series’ thirteen-book running echo (Lee #21 → Pérez #22 → Thompson #23 → White #24 → Harris #25 → Sánchez #26 → Clark #27 → Ramírez #28 → Lewis #29 → Robinson #30 → Walker #31 → Young #32 → Allen #33). The signature story is Ethan Allen (1738–1789) — colonel of the Green Mountain Boys, who took Fort Ticonderoga on May 10, 1775, endured a British prisoner’s years, and carried Vermont to the edge of statehood — honored in prose only: no authentic life portrait survives, and no likeness is drawn or reproduced, by the standing rule of the series. Five heraldic plates, drawn programmatically from published blazons (Allen, Viscount Allen — the only titled Allen family, Irish peerage 1717–1845; Allen of Dale Castle, the vendors’ shield; Allen of Rossall, Cardinal Allen’s family; Giles Allen, Mayor of Dublin 1577; Edward Alleyn of Dulwich, founder of Dulwich College; and the blank honest shield), show why no single coat of arms belongs to a surname — Burke’s General Armory records some fifty-nine distinct Allen entries; and a gazetteer of Allen places maps Allen, Texas; Allen, Nebraska; and Allen, Kansas.