This interesting and unusual surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is locational from a place in Lincolnshire called "Scrane". The placename is a Scandinavianized form of an Old English pre 7th Century name; it may be the Old English "scraeging", derived from the Old English "scraga", which corresponds to the Middle High German, Middle Low German and Middle Dutch "schrage", trestle. The name may mean "structure made of poles". The placename was first recorded as "Scrainges" in the Pipe Rolls of 1197. Locational surnames were developed when former inhabitants of a place moved to another area, usually to seek work, and were best identified by the name of their birthplace. This may account for the popularity of the surname in Norfolk, Somerset and Wiltshire. The modern surname can be found as Scrine, Scryne, Skrine and Skryne. Among the sample recordings in Somerset are the christening of William, son of William and Elizabeth Scrine, on February 17th 1685 at bath Abbey, Bath, and the marriage of Timothy Scrine and Mary Whithill on March 29th 1705 at Kingsdon. Joseph Scrine married Katherine Cooper on May 14th 1738 at Trowbridge, in Wiltshire. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Barbara Scrine (marriage to John Leake), which was dated December 29th 1572, at St. Giles, Norwich, Norfolk, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1, known as "Good Queen Bess", 1558 - 1603. 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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