Recorded in a number of spellings including Dallan, Dallen, Dallin, Dalling, Dallun, Dallyn and possibly others, this is an English surname. It is early medieval and locational from either of the villages now known as Field Dalling and Wood Dalling in the county of Norfolk. These are recorded as Dallinga in the famous Domesday Book of 1086, and share the same meaning and derivation. This is the settlement of the Dealla people, from the pre 7th Century personal name Dealla meaning proud, with -ingas, to give the place of the Dealla tribe. Early examples of the surname recordings taken from surviving charters and church registers include Roger Dallyn, the vicar of Brooke in Norfolk, in the year 1408, Jane Dallen who married Franc Briclebank (as spelt) at St Giles Cripplegate, city of London on October 27th 1589, and Sarah Dallon, christened at St Brides Fleet Street, also city of London, on April 19th 1657. This was during the "reign" of Oliver Cromwell (1650 - 1658). The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Turoldus de Dallenges. This was dated 1108, in the Pipe Rolls of the county of Norfolk, during the reign of King Henry Ist, known as "The Lion of Justice", 1100 - 1135. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was sometimes known as the Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.