Tilney

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A English family name, notably borne by a character in Jane Austen's novel Northanger Abbey ; a small rural village in the English county of Norfolk
2. A surname of English origin, famously given to a hero of Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey ; a settlement in the county of Norfolk in eastern England
3. A family name common in England, best known from Austen's Northanger Abbey ; a parish and village located in Norfolk, in the east of England

Etymology: Tilney is a place name before it is a family name. The village and parish of Tilney, in Norfolk, takes its name from Old English roots, and the surname came from people who lived there or came from there, a common pattern in English family names. Tilney All Saints and Tilney St Lawrence, the parishes that share the name, are small agricultural communities on the edge of the Fens, and the surname spread from this area as families moved. The name reached most readers through Jane Austen. Henry Tilney, the witty clergyman who courts Catherine Morland in Northanger Abbey, bears a name that suits the period's gentry, and Austen's choice has kept the surname familiar to generations of readers. Its use in the novel rests on the family's gentry status rather than on any link to the Norfolk village.