In a message dated 07/07/2004 09:50:11 GMT Daylight Time, rm16460@btinternet.com writes: There is possibly a very good chance that the name COPELIN derives from Normandy, however a historical piece I saw or read somewhere puts the name in a block of like spelt names stemming from a Sir John de COUPLAND, who captured a Scots King somewhere near Durham, I think in the time of one of the King Edwards. If this is right then a question would be where did Sir John arrive from. . . It seems to me that you are slowly moving towards the correct answer when it comes to the origin of the surname Copelin. Researching the origins of surnames is a different discipline to researching the individuals in a pedigree; it seems to me that it is always extremely speculative, and personally I would find it of little value until I had reached the point of having traced a line back to the time when surnames were first adopted. However, since you have brought the matter up I would guess that Copelin refers to Copeland, a division of Cumberland. There is a much more common surname of Copeland, and that one will almost certainly have been derived in that way: I would fully expect Copelin to be a corruption of it in much the same way as Coupland probably is. . . Geoff Nicholson . 57 Manor Park, Concord, WASHINGTON, Tyne & Wear NE37 2BU Ask for details of NBL/DUR family history research in depth by THE local expert, working for YOU.