This is a surname of German origins. Recorded in a number of forms including Schanke, Schankel, Shankle, Schanken, Schankein, Schenck, Schenke, and the locational Schankelborg, it is usually job descriptive for an inn-keeper or at least a person who prepared or manufactured, alocholic drink. However the name could also be a nickname from 'schenkel', which was used to describe either a fast runner, or the reverse, a person who suffered from some impediment. One of the great difficulties with medieval surnames which may derive from a nickname source, is deciding the true meaning in the 14th century, not the literal translation. However spelt, and whatever the original meaning, this is one of the earliest of all known German surnames, Johannes Scinkel of Hamburg being recorded in the charters and registers of that famous city in 1285, and Burcholtz Schenkel of Walshut, shortly afterwards in the year 1288. Recordings taken from surviving early church registers of Germany include: Maria Schankelborg, who married Johannes Reinbord at Rengsdorf, Rheinland, on October 18th 1696, and Wilhelm Schankel, who married Maria Goeckler at Neckarkreis, Wuerttemburg, on August 27th 1873.

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