This interesting name is of Flemish (Dutch/Belgian) origin, and was introduced into England by the Flemish Huguenot refugees who fled to England at the end of the 16th Century, to escape religious persecution on the Continent. There were two major periods of Huguenot emigration; at the end of the 16th Century, when those who came to England were mostly Flemish, with some French, and during the middle and late 17th Century, when Louis X1V revoked the Edict of Nantes, and most of the refugees to England were French. There were inevitable changes to the names of these refugees; they were often Anglicized or spelt phonetically, and an early recording of the name 'Mouland' in London shows this: the marriage of Grace Mulland and James Carter was recorded in 1634. The name 'Mouland' or 'Moulan' is a derivative of the French 'moulin', mill, and is an occupational name for a mill-hand. One James Mouland married Jane Wheeler at St. Mary's, Marylebone, London, on October 15th 1810. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Jehenne Moulan (christening), which was dated March 23rd 1642, Fleron, Liege, Belgium, during the reign of Ferdinand 111, Holy Roman Emperor, 1637-1657. 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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