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Re: The orgin and meaning of my Surname
Your surname appears on page 88 of “New Dictionary of American Family Names,” by Elsdon C. Smith, published 1973.

CLINKSCALES (Eng.) One who made armor by clinching the scales of metal to leather or heavy linen.

Some of the older etymologists are no longer respected, but I will merely report that the surname CLINKSCALES is treated in “A Dictionary of Surnames” by Mark Antony Lower, published 1988, page 62 (first published in 1860 as “A Dictionary of the Family Names of the United Kingdom”). Mr. Lower thinks it might be a local name, because the second syllable could come from "skell," which means a "well."

Reg Niles
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Clinkscales also has it's origins in Scotland. In 1601 there is an entry in the Retours stating "terra cotagia in villa de Coldinghame vocata Clinkskaillis" meaning land in the village of Coldingham named Clinkscales. Coldingham is a village in Berwickshire Scotland.
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