This interesting and unusual name has two possible sources, the first being that it is an occupational name for one who kept a stall, from the Middle English 13th Century 'schamel', a bench, or the Anglo-Saxon 'scamel', a stool. It was often used specifically for one who kept a stall for meat in the street or market. However it is also possible that this is a nickname surname for a person with a Shambling gait, or which the present form is a variant. Other variants include Schambler, Scamler and Skamler. One Charles Scambler is recorded as being baptised in March 1678 in the parish of St. Thomas in Barbados. Also in Barbados another Charles Scambler possibly the father of the above is listed as a soldier in Colonel Thornhill's Foot Regiment in January 1679. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Edmund Scambler, bishop of Peterborough, which was dated 1560, State Papers, Peterborough, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, 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.