This interesting and unusual name is a dialectal variant of "Clint", a locational surname of Old Scandinavian origin from a place called "Clint", a township in the parish of Ripley in North West Yorkshire. The name means "a hill", derived from the Old Swedish "klinter", Old Danish "klint" and the Old Norse "klettr". The placename was recorded in 1230 as "clint" in the Yorkshire Pipe Rolls. The place in Norfolk near East Dereham, called "Clint Green" is named with the same element. There is evidence to suggest that the village called "Clint" in Yorkshire declined in the 17th and 18th Centuries for a time, according to "Jeffrey's map of Yorkshire of 1772. The surname development in Yorkshire includes Anna Clynte (1592, Ripley), Willim Clynt (1569, Ibid). One Henry Clint was christened on September 16th 1599 at Holy Trinity, Micklegate and Katherine Clint married John Smith on July 6th 1609 at Pannal in Yorkshire. One John Clyant was christened at St. Margarets, Westminster, London on March 12th 1615. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Cecilia de Clynt, which was dated 1379, the Yorkshire Poll Tax Returns, during the reign of King Richard 11, "Richard of Bordeaux", 1377 - 1399. 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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