Leng One-Name Study

Leng
One-Name Study

Topics

About the Leng One-Name Study
Variants
Links
Contact Details

About the Leng One-Name Study

As it is applies to families which originate from the United Kingdom, the surname LENG (a descriptive name like LONG, LANG, LING or LAING) seems almost always to originate from North Yorkshire and the southern part of County Durham. The LENG spelling only became fixed in the latter part of the nineteenth century, as literacy improved, so that earlier records often refer to LANG or LING. Even now, the name is often misspelt: anyone called LENG becomes used to being addressed as Mr or Mrs LANG, LING, LONG, LUNG, LEVY or even LUCY, SENG and TENG!

LENG was a common name on the hilly upland area twenty-five miles north of York itself, stretching east to the coast, known as the North York Moors. The name was especially common in and around Bilsdale from the late 1500s; later it occurs in villages on the southern fringes of the Moors, such as Kirkby Moorside, Gillamoor and Hutton Buscel. LENG families also became established in and around Danby and Glaisdale, then Whitby, Loftus and Middlesbrough, as opportunities arose there for employment.

Quite separate LENG families are recorded from an early date in villages south and east of York. Some of these later moved to West and South Yorkshire, again seeking more secure employment. LENGs working on the railways or in the mining and steel industries or engineering migrated to Teesside and further north into County Durham, or to places such as Doncaster, Sheffield and Birmingham. The LENGs who appear in the London region are thought usually to have migrated south through links with the sea and maritime occupations.

Usually it is possible to trace specific families which emigrated to the New World, and LENG “clans” are now well established in Australia and Canada, in particular. There are smaller numbers in the United States, New Zealand and South Africa, and those in the US, particularly, may find that their name is Germanic or Scandinavian in origin, rather than British.

The LENG one-name study has been ongoing for almost thirty years, so that data includes details of all UK births, marriages and deaths, census material, a large collection of parish records, a transcript of indexes to Wills, telephone directories and many other sources.

Information has also been collected on the surname as it occurs in other countries, and many contacts have been established throughout the world. The study has generated large numbers of LENG family trees, which can be shared with other researchers on a basis of mutual cooperation.

Variants

As noted above, LENG has been spelt in many ways in the past, and still is occasionally!

This study includes only occurences of names such as LING and LANG where they are thought to refer to families subsequently known as LENG

Links

www.leng.org.uk

Contact details

For further information, contact:

Mr Alan J Leng
La Gavache,
32550 LASSEUBE PROPRE
France
E-mail:

This page last updated 25 February 2008.