This interesting surname of English origin is a locational name from a place called Cliburn in Westmorland, deriving from the Old English pre 7th Century "clif" meaning "cliff" plus "burna" "stream", hence "cliff stream". The surname dates back to the early 15th Century, (see below). Further recordings include one Joane Clybburne who married Nicholas Smyth on August 16th 1573, at South Mimms, London, and Thomas Clayborne, is recorded as mayor of Lynn in 1573. Elsabeth Clyburne married Robert Dent on August 10th 1619, at Morland, Westmorland, and Sarah, daughter of Zeblun and Mary Clyborn, was christened on November 21st 1705, at Christ Church, Southwarle, London. Mary, daughter of Robert and Sarah Cliburn, was christened at St. Martin in the Fields, Westminster, on December 1717, and Simon Clybourn married Jane Dolman on October 20th 1740, also at St. Martin in the Fields, Westminster. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Thomas Claybeyn, bailiff of Yarmouth, which was dated 1413, The Feet of Fines, during the reign of King Henry V, "The Victor of Agincourt", 1413 - 1422. 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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