Recorded as Northin and Northing, this is an English surname. It is a variant form of the more familiar surname Northen or Northern. The derivation is from the pre 7th Century term "northern", meaning a man from the north, and the surname from this source has two possible interpretations. Firstly, it may be a topographical name for someone who lived in the northern part of a settlement or village, or who lived to the north of such a place. There are equivalent topographical surnames in most European languages, and similarly formed names from the other compass points: Western, Eastern and Southern. Secondly, the surname may be regional, denoting someone who had migrated from "the north". The first recordings of the surname, below, is such a regional name, and other early examples include: Thomas le Northeryn (1273, Lincolnshire); Richard le Northryn or le Northren (1317, Yorkshire); and William Northene (1327, Suffolk). Among the recordings of the name in church registers are those of the marriage of Thomas Northing and Elizabeth Dubbleday in Gosberton, Lincolnshire, on April 19th 1631, and of the marriage of Elizabeth Northin and Robart Hemingway on November 4th 1654, at Monk Frystone in Yorkshire. The coat of arms depicts three gold bars gemelles on a blue shield, with three gold lions in chief. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William le Northerne, which was dated 1252, in the "Chartulary of Ramsey Abbey", Huntingdonshire. This was during the reign of King Henry 111rd ofg England, 1216 - 1272. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.