Bikam History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

• Origins Available:
• England

Etymology of Bikam

Bikam is a name of ancient Anglo-Saxon origin and comes from the family once having lived in Bikome, a town in the county of Somerset.

Early Origins of the Bikam family

Early History of the Bikam family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Bikam research. Another 77 words (6 lines of text) covering the years 1350, 1743, 1747, 1758 and 1769 are included under the topic Early Bikam History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Bikam Spelling Variations

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 Bikam family name include Bickham, Bickam, Bigham, Biggam, Bigholme, Bighone, Begholm, Beghome, Biggem and many more.

Early Notables of the Bikam family

George Bickham the Elder (d. 1769), writing-master and engraver, born about the end of the seventeenth century. "He was the most celebrated penman of his time, and published in 1743 a folio volume entitled 'The Universal Penman . . . exemplified in all the useful and ornamental branches of modern Penmanship." 2 His...
Another 52 words (4 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Bikam Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Bikam family

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 Bikam surname or a spelling variation of the name include: Richard Bickham who settled in Barbados in 1685; George Bickham settled in Philadelphia in 1830; Margaret Biggam settled in Charles Town, South Carolina in 1767.