Chaplin Family History

English and French: occupational name for a clergyman, or perhaps for the servant of one, from Middle English, Old French chapelain ‘chantry priest’, a priest endowed to sing mass daily on behalf of the souls of the dead (Late Latin capellanus). Ukrainian and Belorussian: patronymic from the nickname Chaplya, from the dialect word chaplya ‘heron’, ‘stork’ (Russian tsaplya), referring to a man with long, thin legs or perhaps one who was shy and easily frightened.

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University Press