This unusual name is one of the patronymic forms of the Northern English surname "Skeat", which is of Norse origin, dating from the Scandinavian settlement of northern and western areas of England before the 10th Century. The surname, found as "Skeat, Skeate, Skeet(e), Skate and Skett", with the patronymic forms "Skeat(e)s" and "Skates", derives from the old Norse personal name "Skjotr", from "Skjotr", swift, fleet, used also as a byname or nickname. The personal name is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Scet", and "Schett". The marriage of Elizabeth Skate and Nicholas Gill was recorded at Thorne, in Yorkshire on the 17th November 1674 while one William Skaea was christened at St. Giles', Cripplegate in London in August 1764. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Nicholas Sket, which was dated 1201, The Pipe Rolls of Shropshire, during the reign of King John, known as "Lackland", 1199 - 1216. 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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