Bickham
An English surname probably denoting someone from a small West Country place-name, likely meaning “Bick- hill” or “Bick- valley.”
The #9,328 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 88,415 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Bickham is generally treated as a locational surname from a minor place in the English West Country. Bardsley glosses it as “of Bikome,” suggesting a local place-name built from an element like Bick- plus -ham or -combe, though the exact spot was not identified in his source. The name is therefore best understood as meaning a person from a place whose name contained Bick- and a topographic suffix such as “home/settlement” or “valley.”
History
The surname is recorded in English parish and marriage registers by the 18th century, and it remained concentrated in southern and south-western England. Because the underlying place-name is obscure, Bickham has often been treated as one of the smaller local surnames whose origin can be traced more confidently to geography than to a well-known family line. It is not a very common surname, but it has survived into modern English-speaking populations, especially in Britain and the United States.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Bardsley explicitly called it a West Country name but could not identify the exact little place behind it.
From the historical record
“Blcktord ; v. Beckford. Bickham.— Local, 'of Bikome.' a West-country name (some small spot I cannot identify), with the ; V. Bick and Combe.”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances