Billham - Name

This a dialectually transposed variation of Billingham from a place so called in Durham near Stockton-on-tees. The name derives from the Olde English 'ham' - or enclosure of homestead and the personal name Billa, the meaning of which is obscure but is probably a derivation of Bula - a keeper of bulls. Like most locational names 'Billingham' was given either to the Lord of the Manor or to a former inhabitant who moved to another area. The further the move, the greater the corruption of the original spelling. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Richard Billingham. which was dated C.1350 Chancellor of Oxford University. during the reign of King Edward 111 The Father of the Navy 1327 - 1377. 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.