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ArchivesThe orgin and meaning of my Surname
I need to know the meaning of my surname "Clinkscales". Someone said that it meant an English fisherman. I was born in Atlanta, Ga. My Grandparents were born somewhere in south Carolina and then moved to New York. I am Black, and I need this information for a class project. Please Email me the info as soon as possible.
Thanks
Jerod
Thanks
Jerod
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Replies
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
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
1
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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