The surname of APLIN was a baptismal name 'the son of Appeline'. It was also an ancient Welsh font name. The name was brought to England in the wake of the Norman Conquest of 1066. Many of the early names recorded in medieval documents denote noble families but many also indicate migration from the continent during, and in the wake of, the Norman invasion of 1066. There was a constant stream of merchants, workmen and others arriving in England during this time. In 1086 the Record of Great Inquisition of lands of England, their extent, value, ownership and liabilities was made by order of William The Conquerer. It is known as the Domesday Book. Early records mention Thomas Abelyn, 1273 County Kent. Thomas Appelyn of County Yorkshire, was listed in the Yorkshire Poll Tax of 1379. John Applyn of County Yorkshire, was documented in the year 1547. Baptised. Anne Aplin at St. James's, Clerkenwell, London in the year 1734. Samuel Ramsay married Elizabeth Aplin at St. George's. Hanover Square, London in 1802. Over the centuries, most people in Europe have accepted their surname as a fact of life, as irrevocable as an act of God, however much the individual may have liked or disliked the surname, they were stuck with it, and people rarely changed them by personal choice. A more common form of variation was in fact involuntary, when an official change was made, in other words, a clerical error. Among the humbler classes of European society, and especially among illiterate people, individuals were willing to accept the mistakes of officials, clerks and priests as officially bestowing a new version of their surname, just as they had meekly accepted the surname they had been born with. In North America, the linguistic problems confronting immigration officials at Ellis Island in the 19th century were legendary as a prolific source of Anglicization.

The name is also spelt Applin and Appling.