Recorded in a number of spellings, as shown below, this unusual surname is English. It is well recorded from Elizabethan times, and is believed to derive from either the Medieval English word 'shingle', or perhaps from a lost mvillage called 'Scincle-leah' or similar, meaning the place where shingles were made, as in Shingle in Essex. Shingle is a developed form of the pre 8th century 'scinglen', and hence was an occupational name for a maker or seller of wood tiles much used in South East England for roofing. In the modern idiom the surname spellings are believed to include Skingle, Skingell, Skinglee, Skinsley and Skingley. The surname not surprisingly is most recorded in Greater London and examples include John Skingle at St James Clerkenwell in the city of London on September 30th 1599, and in the county of Kent that of James Skingley, a christening witness at Bearsted church on August 16th 1605. The name recordings in the surviving registers of Greater London include such examples as Joseph Skingell in 1616, Clemence Skyngle in 1617 and George Skinglee in 1713. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John Skingle, which was dated 30th September 1599, who married Christiana Fletcher at St. James Church Clerkenwell, 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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