Anne Astling
Interestingly, a survey of surname distribution for the UK indicates that the name Tuplin/g is still most predominant in Lincolnshire, although of course it is distributed among most English counties.
I had become aware of Taplin as a possible variant quite early in my researches, and that there were major clusters of Taplin families in the south of England. Because one of my contacts was descended from a Tapling whose line had been traced back to a Tupling family group in Lincolnshire, I have wondered whether the two names have a common origin - and still do. Additionally I have come across Toplin and Topling in written census records for individuals I know to be part of my own direct line, so that name could be a variant for other people who I can’t connect in as yet. In North and East Yorkshire the name Tiplin and Tipling proliferates, and although they may be a completely distinct grouping they still need to be considered until we can prove otherwise. Hopefully DNA testing will give us some clues in the future.
So “how far back” have I got? Well I have a few very early references to the Tuplin/gs in Lincolnshire (who I can’t link together), and a good collection of names of individuals from baptisms, marriages, burials and wills dating between the late 1500s to the mid 1600s. The events of the Civil War and the Commonwealth period often resulted in the loss of such information, so I can’t say I have a verified line of descent prior to Thomas who was probably born in the 1680s. However I feel that if my hunch as to his father’s identity is correct I can take my genealogy back to the early 1500s and the area around the villages of Clee and Somercotes in the north east of Lincolnshire.
