Ingham
A place-based surname from English villages named Ingham, probably meaning a meadow or low-lying homestead associated with an Old English personal name.
The #9,338 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 88,542 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Ingham is a locational surname taken from one of several English places called Ingham, especially in Lincolnshire, Norfolk, and Suffolk. Older surname dictionaries usually connect it with a place name built from an early personal name element, though one source glosses it more generally as a settlement on low ground or meadowland. The final element is the common Old English "-ham," meaning homestead, village, or estate.
History
The surname arose independently from residents of the various English places called Ingham and was later carried outward by migration. It is recorded in medieval and post-medieval English sources, and the name remains most strongly associated with England rather than a single clan or lineage. Later reference works differ slightly on the first element, so the surname’s precise origin is not completely settled.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Lower specifically lists Ingham as a surname taken from place names in three English counties and cross-references it to Inge, showing how closely many English surnames were tied to local geography.
From the historical record
“Ingham. INGHAM. Parishes in cos. Lincoln, Norfolk, and Suffolk. See Inge. INGILBY. There are several places in Yorkshire called Ingleby, and in that co., at Ripley Castle, the baronet's ancestors have been resident from the XIV. century. Courthope's Debrett. INGLEDEW. TheuaraeofAngeltheow occurs in the genealogies…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom