Shanklin
A name likely tied to a place-name meaning “crevice” or “chasm,” especially associated with Shanklin in the Isle of Wight.
The #8,645 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 81,163 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Shanklin is best understood as a locational surname from Shanklin in the Isle of Wight. The place-name is usually explained from an older word for a steep cleft, ravine, or chasm, the same sense seen in the famous local feature Shanklin Chine. The surname would originally have identified someone who came from that place.
History
The name is relatively uncommon and appears in English surname collections alongside other place-based names. The historical material provided links it specifically with Shanklin as a natural-feature place-name, rather than with the modern English word shank. In the United States it remains a rare surname.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Shanklin Chine, the local landmark that helps explain the name, is one of the best-known scenic features on the Isle of Wight.
From the historical record
“thereby. A chine was a crevice or chasm ; cf. Black Gang Chine, or Shanklin Chine. In the H. E. D. are such variants as Chyne, Chynne, Chinne, or Chin (v. Chine, s6.*). The g in Ching is evidently an excrescence ; cf. Jennings for Jenins.”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames (alternate scan)