This uncommon and interesting name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational surname deriving from the place called Clipsham in the former county of Rutland, near Stamford. The place is recorded in the Rutland Curia Rolls of 1203 as "Kilpesham", and in the Feudal Aids Rolls of 1428 as "Clyppesham", and the name is derived from the Olde English pre 7th Century personal name "Cylp", a development of a byname related to the Old Norse "kylp", "a small, sturdy fellow", with "ham", homestead, village, settlement. Locational surnames, such as this, were acquired by the lord of the manor, and local landowners, and especially by those former inhabitants of a place who moved to another area, usually in search of work, and thereafter used the name of their birthplace as a means of identification. Examples of the surname from various Church Registers include: Robert Clipsam (1546, Northamptonshire); Michell Clipsom (1625, Nottinghamshire); and William Clypsham (1633, Leicestershire). The marriage of Margaret Clipsham and Edward Wright was recorded at Seaton in Rutland on July 20th 1586. A Coat of Arms granted to a family of the name depicts two gold chevrons between three gold cinquefoils on a blue shield; the Crest is a black boar's head couped, and the Motto is, "Fortiter" (Bravely). The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Ann Clepsam, which was dated September 18th 1544, christened at Castor, Northamptonshire, during the reign of King Henry V111, known as "Bluff King Hal", 1509 - 1547. 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.

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