Our surname


"Surnames can reveal much about your family history, but they can also be a minefield of misinformation."
(Quote by Paul Blake, "What's In a Name? Your Link to the Past", https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/familyhistory/get_started/surnames_01.shtml)
"My dad, WILLIAM HENRY FLUEN (1906-1969), always thought and told us children that we must have had Danish ancestors somewhere down the line because our last name "Fluen" would be of Danish origin. And well, there is actually a Danish word "fluen", which translates as "the fly".

In the meantime, however, I have learned that the surname of our branch of the family has nothing to do with possible Danish roots, but it was just a simple spelling mistake in the early 19th century when my great-great-grandfather's surname has been registered as "Fluen" instead of "Fruin" or "Fruen". For that reason I think it is plausible to say that James Fluen (1829-1911), father of ELIZA FLUEN (1855-1932), was the progenitor of the family branch "Fluen", of which I am an offspring."

The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Richard Frewine, which was dated 1221, in the Suffolk Records.

According to the Internet Surname Database the surname Fruen (Fruin or Frewin) is of Anglo-Saxon origin, from the Old English pre 7th Century personal name Freawine (also Frowin or Frowinus), composed of the elements freo for free, noble, generous, and wine for friend.

A very early example of this Anglo-Saxon name can be found in the Anglo Saxon Chronicles A.D. 552: "This year Cynric fought with the Britons on the spot that is called Sarum, and put them to flight. Cerdic was the father of Cynric, Cerdic was the son of Elesa, Elesa of Esla, Esla of Gewis, Gewis of Wye, Wye of Freawine, .....", who was according to the Gesta Danorum, Book IV. "the governor of the men of Sleswik" (Danish: Slesvig; South Jutlandic: Sljasvig; archaic English: Sleswick; Low German: Sleswig), a town in the northeastern part of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It takes its name from the Schlei, an inlet of the Baltic sea at the end of which it sits, and vik or vig which means bay in Old Norse and Danish. Schleswig or Slesvig therefore means bay of the Schlei.

Freawine is called also as an ancestor of the kings of Wessex. Later sources describe him only as the son of Frithugar and father of Ket and Wig, whose name was intruded into the pedigree of the kings of Bernicia when it was transferred to that of the kings of Wessex (ancestors of the kings of England).

In the Gesta Danorum Freawine is portrayed as father-in-law of Offa, a legendary king of the Angles, who is said to have been dumb or silent during his early years. His aged and blind father, King Wermund believed him to be a simpleton and in order to preserve his son's position as king he had him marry the daughter of Freawine so that he would assist Offa, when he became king. However, the plans did not come to pass, as Freawine was challenged by the Swedish King Athisl and killed in two-combat. Wermund subsequently raised Freawine's sons Ket and Wig as his own.


Freawine would later be avenged by his two sons Ket and Wig. However, the two sons fought against Athisl two against one, a national disgrace that was redeemed by their brother-in-law Offa, when he killed two princes at the same time, in "single combat". This event is referred to in Widsith (an Old English poem) as a duel against Myrgings, a clan and people of Saxon origin.

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