“Linklater” is mainly a Scottish surname and place-name, not a common everyday word with a separate dictionary meaning.

Basic meaning

  • It is a habitational name : it comes from places called Linklater in the Orkney Islands of Scotland (South Ronaldsay and North Sandwick), or from Linklet in North Ronaldsay.
  • These place-names go back to Old Norse, reflecting the Viking/Norse heritage of Orkney.

Old Norse roots

Most surname etymology sources agree that “Linklater” comes from two Old Norse elements:

  • lyng – meaning “heather”
  • klett / klettr – meaning “rock”

So the original sense was roughly “heather rock” or “heather-covered rock,” describing a landscape feature that then became a place-name and later a family name.

As a name today

  • “Linklater” is used as a surname in Scotland, Canada, the US and elsewhere, and also appears as the name of small settlements (for example in Orkney and in Manitoba, Canada).
  • Modern databases classify it as a relatively rare Scottish (Orkney) surname derived from those historical locations.

TL;DR: Linklater means “heather rock” in origin and is used today mainly as a Scottish surname and place-name. Information gathered from public data available on the internet and portrayed here.