Linklater

This interesting and unusual name is of Scottish locational origin, specifically from either of the places similarly named in the Orkneys. These are "Linklater" in North Sandwick and South Ronaldsay, and Linklet in North Ronaldsay. The placenames are derived from the Olde Norse words "lying", meaning "heather", and "klettr", meaning "rock". The true form of the placename and hence the surname is "Linklet", "Linklater" in South Ronaldsay was "Linclet" in 1596, and the same in North Sandwick was "Lynkclet" in 1500. In the first recording of the surname below, the English preposition "at" (Middle English "aet") was joined to the name by mistake. "Peter Linkleter" was one of the quartermasters of the "Bounty" in 1789 and stood by Captain Bligh during the Mutiny. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Christe Aelingeklaet, "Goodman", which was dated 1424, in the "Records of the Earldom of Orkney", during the reign of King James 1, of Scotland 1406 - 1437. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.