Detling is an uncommon surname in the United States. It appears that most Americans with this surname have origins in Germany and other parts of Europe, though there is a town called Detling in County Kent, England.

From Hyde Flippo’s web site on the German language–http://german.about.com/:

The first European surnames seem to have arisen in northern Italy around 1000 A.D., gradually spreading northward into the Germanic lands and the rest of Europe. By 1500 the use of family names such as Schmidt (smith), Petersen (son of Peter), and Backer (baker) was common in the German-speaking regions and all across Europe.

Persons trying to track down their family history owe a debt of gratitude to the Council of Trent (1563), which decreed that all Catholic parishes had to keep full records of baptisms. The Protestants soon joined in this practice, furthering the use of family names throughout Europe.

European Jews began the use of surnames relatively late, around the end of the 18th century. Officially, Jews in what is today Germany had to have a surname after 1808. Jewish registers in Wurttemberg are largely intact and go back to about 1750.

John Detling was born September 18, 1805, in Dettensee, Wurttemberg, Germany. He was baptised Johannes Baptist Dettling, son of Joseph Dettling and Catherina (Knox or Ruon). Joseph Dettling was probably born in Dettingen, Germany, the home town listed for Joseph’s parents, Martin Dettling and Catherina Ruon. (John dropped one T from the spelling of his name but it was not for several years after emigrating to Wisconsin).

The village of Dettingen was the scene of a 1743 victory over French forces by George II of England, commanding an army of English, Hanoverian and Hessian troops in the War of the Austrian Succession. This village is now part of the Germany city of Horb am Neckar, as are the villages of Dettlingen (350 inhabitants currently) to the west and Dettensee (less than 500 people) to the east.