Recorded in a number of spellings including Layborn, Labern, Leaburn, Leeburn, Layborne and Leyburn, this surname is English. It is of locational origins either from the village of Leybourne in Kent or from the small town of Leyburn in Wensleydale, in the North Riding of Yorkshire. The first place was recorded as "Lylleburna" in the famous Anglo-Saxon Chronicles of the year 779 a.d., and as "Leleburne" in the Domesday Book of 1086. It is derived from the Old English personal name "Lylla" plus "burna" a stream, hence "Lylla's stream". Bearers of the name have been found in Kent from the 12th Century in the village of Leybourne (see below), whilst Robert de Leburn appears in the Pipe Rolls for Kent in 1192. Leyburn in Yorkshire is recorded as "Leborne" in the Domesday Book of 1086. It is believed to have as its first element the Old English word "hlig" or Old Norse "hly" meaning a shelter plus "burna", to give the shelter by the stream. Henry Laburn is recorded in the Register of the Freemen of the City of York in the year 1488, whilst on November 21st 1784, Elizabeth Laybourn was christened at Saint Paul's church in Covent Garden, city of London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Philip de Leiburn. This was dated 1166, in the records of Landholders of Leybourne, Kent. This was during the reign of King Henry 11nd of England, 1154 - 1189. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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