This interesting surname has two distinct possible sources, each with its own history and derivation. Firstly, Schooling may be of Germanic origin, and a patronymic form of "Scholl", itself a metonymic occupational name for a bell-ringer or a town-crier, from the Middle High German "scholl", from "schallen", to ring (out), or a nickname for a wild, obstreperous person from the Middle High German "schel", noisy, loud. Job-descriptive surnames initially denoted the actual occupation of the namebearer, and later became hereditary; and nicknames were originally given with reference to a variety of personal characteristics, such as mental and moral characteristics, and to habits of dress and behaviour. Recordings of the surname from German Church Registers include the christening of Peter Scholling at Dortmund, Westfalen, on March 25th 1668, and the marriage of Albert Scholing to Alheit Haussmann at Holtorf, Hannover, on January 18th 1674. The second possibility is that Schooling is an Anglicised form of the Old Gaelic "O Scollain", descendant of Scollan, a personal byname from "scol", high-pitched (voice), call, shout. The O'Scollain sept belonged to the parish of Ballyscullion on the borders of Counties Antrim and Derry, and the more usual Anglicizations of the name are Scullin, Scullion and Skoolin. On August 8th 1631, Christopher Schooling and Mary Player were married at St. Dunstan's, Stepney, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Haintz uf dem Schollen, which was dated 1350, in "Early Medieval Records of Stuttgart", Germany, during the reign of Charles 1V of Luxembourg, 1347 - 1378. 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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