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Needhan is a name of ancient Anglo-Saxon origin and comes from the family once having lived in one of the places called Needham in the counties of Derbyshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. The surname Needhan belongs to the large category of Anglo-Saxon habitation names, which are derived from pre-existing names for towns, villages, parishes, or farmsteads.
The surname Needhan was first found in Derbyshire at Alvaston, a chapelry, in the parish of St. Michael, Derby, union of Shardlow, hundred of Morleston and Litchurch. " In 1547 [the manor of Alvaston] was granted to the Needham family, from whom it passed to various hands." 1
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Needhan research. Another 104 words (7 lines of text) covering the years 1461, 1506, 1620, 1625, 1631 and 1678 are included under the topic Early Needhan History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Sound was what guided spelling in the essentially pre-literate Middle Ages, so one person's name was often recorded under several variations during a single lifetime. Also, before the advent of the printing press and the first dictionaries, the English language was not standardized. Therefore, spelling variations were common, even among the names of the most literate people. Known variations of the Needhan family name include Needham, Nedham and others.
Another 47 words (3 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Needhan Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
For political, religious, and economic reasons, thousands of English families boarded ships for Ireland, Canada, the America colonies, and many of smaller tropical colonies in the hope of finding better lives abroad. Although the passage on the cramped, dank ships caused many to arrive in the New World diseased and starving, those families that survived the trip often went on to make valuable contributions to those new societies to which they arrived. Early immigrants bearing the Needhan surname or a spelling variation of the name include: Anne Needham and her husband Edmund, who came to Salem in 1630; Thomas Needham, who arrived in Virginia in 1635; Elizabeth Needum and her husband, who settled in Virginia in 1653.