Recorded in many forms as shown below, this is an English surname. It is derived from the medieval male personal name 'Gandelyn', of unknown derivation, but well recorded up to the 16th Century. There was a popular ballad in the Middle Ages called 'Robyn and Gandeleyn', the 'Robyn' being the legendary Robin Hood whose exploits sppread over three centuries and three King Richard's. A busy man indeed! In the book known as the 'Lytell Geste of Robin Hode', and first printed by Caxton in the late 15th century, the following lines appear: 'Gandeleyn bent his goode bowe, and set therein a flo'. Over the centuries the surname has itself changed almost every century and examples of the development of the name since the reign of Charles 1st (1625 - 1649) include Canland in 1643, Candelin in 1795, Canlin in 1797, Candline in 1808 and Candland in 1838. An example of the surname recording taken from surviving church registers of the city of London is that of James Candlin who married Sarah Abell on the 29th March 1780, at St. Leonard's, Shoreditch. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Thomas Candelayn. This was dated 1379, in the Poll Tax Records of the county of Yorkshire, during the reign of King Richard IInd of England, 1377 - 1399. 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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