Erwin Family Crest and Name History

Where did the Scottish Erwin family come from? What is the Scottish coat of arms/family crest? When did the Erwin family first arrive in the United States?


Where did the various branches of the family go? What is the history of the family name?In ancient Scotland, the first people to use Erwin as a surname were the Strathclyde-Britons. It was a name someone who lived in the parish of Irving in the county of Dumfriesshire or from Irvine in Strathclyde. 



The names have become indistinguishable over time. Before the printing press standardized spelling in the last few hundred years, no general rules existed in the English. Spelling variations in Scottish names from the Middle Ages are common even within a single document. Erwin has been spelled Irwin, Erwin, Irvine, Irving, Urwin, Erwine, Ervin, Erwing, Ervynn, Ervine, Erwynn, Irwing, Irwryn and many more. 


First found in Dumfriesshire, where they were seated from very ancient times, some say well before the Norman Conquest and the arrival of Duke William at Hastings in 1066 A.D. According to family lore, they descend from Duncan "the first of Eryvine," killed at the battle of Duncrub in 965. For Scottish immigrants, the great expense of travel to North America did not seem such a problem in those unstable times.


Acres of land awaited them and many got the chance to fight for their freedom in the American War of Independence. These Scots and their ancestors went on to play vital roles in the forging of the great nations of the United States and Canada.Among them: Andrew Ervin, a boy of 16; landed in Barbados in 1684. Over the next two hundred years the Irving name was to settle mainly in the state of Pennsylvania. William Irwinsettled in Virginia in 1642.