The Origin and Meaning of Our Surname

THE ORIGIN OF OUR SURNAME:

The surname BARNHAM originated in England, and descendants of the immigrant ancestor in North America have also used the spellings BARNAM and BARNUM. The last of these is by far the most common in North America today, while BARNHAM continues to be the most common spelling in England.

Sir Francis Barnham, MP, (1576-1646) discussed in his journal the origin of the surname Barnham. He stated, "Our Name as we have it by tradition, strenghtened with probable circumstances, and some good records (which I have heard some of my friends say they have seene) was first gentilized, or at least advanced, by Sir Walter Barnham, a Baron of the Exchequer in the time of King Richard II, and soe continued in a flowrishinge estate (at a place called Barnham in Suffolke not far from Thetford, where divers descents of them lye now buried) till the time of King Henry VII, all which I have received from my grandmother, father, and uncles, whoe spake it with much confidence, as being delivered to them, by theire friends of the former age, and the truth of it assured by divers records, however it is not that which I will binde on as an infallible truth, because I my self have not seene that which may soe absolutly assure it, and because I for myne owne parte care not to fetch a pedegree farther then from the certaine memory of a grandfather that was rich and honest, and a father that was vertuous and wise;...."

THE MEANING OF OUR SURNAME:

Frank Holmes, in the Directory of the Ancestral Heads of New England Families, calls the name a corruption of Bearnham, meaning a town in a wood or on a hill, and notes that the original family seat was at Southwich, Hants, England. Bardsley, in his Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, defines it as a location-derived surname meaning "of Barnham," and referring to parishes in Ely, Chichester, and Norwich.

A Research Guide to the Genealogy of the Barnum/Barnam/Barnham Family in England and North America