This interesting and unusual surname is of English locational origin from a place thus called north west of Caistor in Lincolnshire. Recorded variously as Clisbi in the Domesday Book of 1086, as Clipsebi in the 1196 Pipe Rolls of Lincolnshire and as Clixeby in the 1275 Hundred Rolls of that county, the place was so called from the old Norse personal name Klyppr, adopted as "Clip" in Old English, plus the Old Norse "by", a homestead or settlement; hence, "Clip's by". The surname is particularly well recorded in church registers of Lincolnshire from the late 16th Century, under the variant spellings Clixbye, Clixbie, Cliksbie etc.. On March 23rd 1578 William Clixbye, an infant was christened in Winterton, and November 24th 1605 Katherine, daughter of Richard Cliksbie was christened there also. The marriage of Margaret Clixby and Robert Chapman took place in Grayingham on November 23rd 1671, and on April 16th 1822 Thomas Clixby married a Charlotte Crooks in Saint Peter's Cathedral, Sheffield, Yorkshire. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Richard Clixby, (christening), which was dated October 14th 1573, Winterton, Lincolnshire, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1st, "Good Queen Bess", 1158 - 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.