Skone

This interesting surname has origins of some considerable dispute. It is belived to derive from the pre 8th Century Scandinavian (Viking) descriptive word "Scearn" which loosely translates as "a muddy place". The village of Scone in Perthshire is clearly the origin of some of the nameholders,as shown by the first recording below, but English Scones, Scone or Skones may derive from some other source entirely, such as the early Flemish 'scone', a baptismal name which means 'The attractive or beautiful one'. The Flemish were first recorded in England (Northumbria) around the year 1100, but shortly afterwards in 1107 were 'moved' to Pembrokeshire in South West Wales to help colonise that area, which was later known as 'Little England'. Certainly in 1585 John and Agnes Skone were recorded as Landowners in that county.Interestingly the Saxon word for'bright' was 'chon', so whether the 'English' derived from the Saxon or the Flemish is certainly open to argument. The name in its various guises, has been well recorded since medieval times, these recordings include Elizabeth Scones who married Richard Ireland in London on July 12th 1562, Awdrey Skonce, who married James Turner, also in London on September 1st 1605, and Thomas Skune, recorded at Edinburgh on June 8th 1637. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Ysaac de Scone, which was dated 1260, witnesses the charter of the land of Drumkarauch, Perthshire, during the reign of King Alexander 111 of Scotland, 1249 - 1286. 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.