Recorded as Pantlin, Pantling, Pentland, this is a British surname. It is ultimately of Greek origin, from the personal name Panteleion, meaning to forgive all. This name was borne by a saint martyred under Diocletian, who was regarded as a patron of physicians, and was honoured as early as the 5th Century. He was adopted as the patron of Venice, his cult not reaching the north until the 11th century. Secondly the surname can be from Pentland, a Scottish surname which originates from an ancient parish in Midlothian. This spelling is composed of "pent", meaning enclosed, and "land", a farm or estate. John de Pentland was paid for loading wool and hides in Scotland in 1304, according to the "Calendar of Documents relating to Scotland". Hanna Pantlen was christened on March 3rd 1656, at St. John's Hackney, and James Pantling married Anne Loveday at St. James Dukes Place, Westminster, on October 23rd 1688. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Ralph de Penteland, This was dated 1304, in the Calendar of Documents relating to Scotland, and during the reign of Edward 1st of England, and known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was sometimes known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.