This interesting surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational name from places so called in Devonshire and Yorkshire. The place in Devonshire is from Acland Barton in Landkey, which was formerly recorded as "Ackelane" in the 13th Century, and derives from the Olde English pre 7th Century personal name "Acca", with "lane", lane. "Acca" is likely to derive from the Olde English "ac", oak, with connotations of strength and reliability. The place in East Yorkshire, is first recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Aclun" and "Hacle", and in North Yorkshire as "Achelum", and "Aclun". Both places are now called Acklam and derive from the Olde English "ac", oak and "leum", a wood or clearing in a wood. The Devonshire Acklands are also said to owe their surname to a grove of oaks near the seat of Ackland Barton, where lived, in 1275, one William de Ackelane. Among the early recordings in Devon are the christenings of Honor Ackland on January 3rd 1544, at Barnstaple, and of Henri Ackland on December 19th 1567 at St. Giles in the Wood. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert de Acland, which was dated 1257, in the "Cartulary of Oseney Abbey", Oxfordshire, during the reign of King Henry 111, known as "The Frenchman", 1216 - 1272. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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