Allen (surname)

Common card · No. 499661

Allen is a British surname, originating from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. It is a variation of the surname MacAllen and may be derived from two separate sources: Ailin, in Irish and Scottish Gaelic, means both "little rock" and "harmony", or it may also be derived from the Celtic Aluinn, which means "handsome". Variant spellings include Alan, Allan, etc. In Portugal, George Allen, an early 18th century trader from England, settled in Porto; he is the first of the Portuguese Allen family – deeply involved in port wine and dating back to 1701 in Portugal – that still owns the noble mansion Quinta de Villar d'Allen, their country estate for more than 180 years (1839). George Allen was a descendant of Henry Allen, Lord of the Manor of Buckenhall in Staffordshire in 1290, and probably of one Alanus de Buckenhall, from whom all the Allens of Staffordshire were said to have descended. In Ireland, Allen is the Anglicization of the Gaelic name Ó h-Ailín. Allen is the 41st most common surname...

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