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ArchivesRe: The orgin and meaning of my Surname
in reply to a message by Jerod Emil Ready Clinkscales
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
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