Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Berlinge 1086 DB

• Berlinga 1086 DB

• Berlynge 1312 Inqaqd

• Berlinges 1123,1126,1189 France 1195,1209,1210 P 1207,1210 Cur 1210 FF c1220 DC 1228 Cl 1229 Ch 1250 Fees 1555 Pat 1610 Speed

• Berlynges 1373 Peace 1406 Pap 1409 RRep 1502 Ipm

• Berlyngs 1397 Pap

• Berrling(') 1148–68 RAi 1189 Ch 1332 Dane lHy2 Cur 1200 P 1210 Ch 1227,1253 Cl 1233,1411 Barl 1288 Pap 1429

• Barlinga c1115 LS

• Barlinge l12 Dane 1318 Cl

• Barlynge 1390 Pat

• Barlinges c1160 Dugdvi Hy2 Ch 1291 RAi 1203–6 Ch 1215 Welles 1291 Cur 1219 Cl 1223 Fees 1234 Ch 1242–3 LER 1253 1576

• Barlynges 1310,1317,1322 Cl 1316 Ch 1317 YearBk 1318 Pat 1325 FA 1327 Willsi 1328 HarlCh 1331 Ipm 1334 Pat 1559 et freq

• Barlings 1264,1290 Peace 1201 Tax

• Barlyngges 1303,1307,1325,1346,1351 Pat 1315 YearBk 1374 Peace

• Barlyngs 1355 Ipm 1401 Cl 1410 RRep 1456 BostonCC 15 Dugdvi 1537–8

• Barling c1189 LAASv c1205 HarlCh 1219 Ass 1219 RAiii 1233 1242 HarlCh 1313 Cl

• Barlyng 1271 Pat 1272,1274,1335 Cl 1392,1403,1408 Pap 1462 Fine 1487 Pat

• Oxeneya Hy2 (Ed1) Barl

• insulam que dicitur Oxen' l12 (Ed1) Barl

• Oxenay, Oxeneia 1202 Ass

• Oxeneye Hy3 Dugd i

• Oxeney 1351 Barl, 1379 Pat

Etymology

'The family, the dependants, the people of Bǣrla', from the OE  pers.n. *Bǣrla and the OE pl. suffix -ingas 'the family, the dependants, the people of'. Barlings is in origin a group-name denoting a body of people bound by kinship or lordship, *Bǣrla being the name of the leader. It became a p.n. when the Bǣrlingas settled in what is today Barlings. The personal name is a diminutive formed from OE  bār m. 'boar' and may belong to the group of names with cultic significance (cf. the association of the boar with Freyr in Old Norse).

A Premonstratensian abbey was founded here in 1154 by Ralf de Haya, see Owen, Church and Society in Medieval Lincolnshire 146. The site was at a place called Oxeneya Hy2 (Ed1) Barl , insulam que dicitur Oxen 'l12 (Ed1) Barl , Oxenay , Oxeneia 1202 Ass, Oxeneye Hy3 Dugd i, Oxeney 1351Barl , 1379 Pat, literally 'the island of the oxen', from the gen.pl. oxna of OE  oxa 'an ox' and OE  ēg 'an island of land'.