This interesting and unusual name is of Medieval English origin and is a dialectal variant of Shirland, from a place so called in Derbyshire. The derivation of this surname is from the Old English pre 7th Century 'scir', a shire or district and 'lund', a grove or copse, and the first recording appears as 'sirelunt' in the Domesday Book of 1086, as 'sirlund' in the 1199 Pipe Rolls of Derbyshire and Schirlund in the Feet of Fines of 1226. The following examples illustrate the name development after the earliest recording (see below), Richard de Scholand (1292 Kent), Christopher Shorlond (1607 Northants), Constance Shorland married Arthur Chamerlayne on February 16th 1616 at St. Botolph, Bishopgate, London, and Elizabeth Shorland married Henry Shaw on November 4th 1690 at St. Katherine-by-the-Tower, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert de Schirlaunde, which was dated 1292, in the Kent Pipe Rolls, during the reign of King Edward 1, known as 'The Hammer of the Scots', 1272 - 1307. 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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