Though Tobin is not an indigenous Gaelic Irish name the family may be regarded as completely hibernicized. Originally of Aubyn in France, they were first called de St. Aubyn. They came to Ireland in the wake of the Norman invasion and by 1200 they were settled in Counties Tipperary and Kilkenny, whence they spread in course of time to the neighbouring counties of Waterford and Cork. While not really numerous compared with some others in the same category, such as Walsh, Roche and Power, they are still to be found to-day in considerable numbers in the counties mentioned above, but very few in any other part of the country. The Tobins became so influential in Co. Tipperary that in mediaeval times the head of the family was known as Baron of Coursey, though this was not an officially recognized title. Clyn in his Annals states that in the fourteenth century the Tobins were a turbulent sept more dreaded by the English settlers than the native Irish. The place Ballytobin near Callan (Co. Kilkenny) took its name from them. No outstanding person of the name appears in the pages of Irish Political, military or cultural history, but James Tobin represented Fethard in the Parliament of 1689. Tobin appears frequently as a name in the Ormond archives and there have been also one or two minor poets in the family. Several Tobins were among the Wild Geese. A branch of the family, returning to the country of its origin, became established at Nantes where so many Irish emigrant familles settled. The best known of this branch was Edmund, Marques de Tobin (1692-1747), who was killed in action in the War of Austrian Succession while in the service of Spain. Another branch of the Irish Tobins settled in Newfoundland and have prospered there.