Bramham History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England

The name Bramham has a long Anglo-Saxon heritage. The name comes from when a family lived in any one of a number of similarly named settlements. Bramham and Braham were found in the West Riding of Yorkshire and Brantham was found in Suffolk. Braham Hall was in Essex, as was Bream's Farm.

Early Origins of the Bramham family

The surname Bramham was first found in the West Riding of Yorkshire, at Braham, a parish, in the Upper division of the wapentake of Barkstone-Ash. "A battle was fought here in 1408, between Sir Thomas Rokeby, sheriff of Yorkshire, and the Earl of Northumberland, in which the earl was defeated and slain, and by which the possession of the county was secured to Henry IV. " 1

Early rolls revealed a wide-spread use of the name with a variety of spellings: Eustace de Braham in Colchester, Essex (1189-1199); Matthew de Bramham, de Braham in the Assize Rolls for Yorkshire in 1219; and Agnes de Brame in the Yorkshire Poll Tax Rolls of 1379. 2

The Hundredorum Rolls of 1273 included: Alan de Braham, Suffolk; Richard de Brahain, Suffolk and Roger de Braham, Suffolk. 3

Early History of the Bramham family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Bramham research. Another 232 words (17 lines of text) covering the years 1086, 1379, 1500, 1555, 1600, 1602, 1660, 1681, 1707, 1718 and 1751 are included under the topic Early Bramham History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Bramham Spelling Variations

Spelling variations in names were a common occurrence before English spelling was standardized a few hundred years ago. In the Middle Ages, even the literate spelled their names differently as the English language incorporated elements of French, Latin, and other European languages. Many variations of the name Bramham have been found, including Braham, Braim, Bramham, Brame, Braem and others.

Early Notables of the Bramham family

Notables of this surname at this time include: Johannes de Brame, a prominent 14th century landholder in Yorkshire.Robert Braham (fl. 1555), edited in 1555 'The Auncient Historic and onely trewe and syncere Cronicle of the warres betwixte the Grecians and the Troyans … translated into Englyshe verse by J. Lydgate,' 4Sir Arnold Braemes (1602-1681), was an English merchant and politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1660; and Richard Brind (died 1718), was an English organist and composer, Organist and Master of the Choristers of St Paul's Cathedral (1707-1718.)John Braham was left an orphan at an early age, and...
Another 121 words (9 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Bramham Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Bramham migration to the United States +

Families began migrating abroad in enormous numbers because of the political and religious discontent in England. Often faced with persecution and starvation in England, the possibilities of the New World attracted many English people. Although the ocean trips took many lives, those who did get to North America were instrumental in building the necessary groundwork for what would become for new powerful nations. Some of the first immigrants to cross the Atlantic and come to North America bore the name Bramham, or a variant listed above:

Bramham Settlers in United States in the 18th Century

Francis Bramham who arrived in Virginia 1756
Francis Bramham, who landed in Virginia in 1756 5

Contemporary Notables of the name Bramham (post 1700) +

William Gibbons Bramham (1874-1947), American baseball executive, lawyer and politician; president of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues (1933-1946)
Christopher Bramham (b. 1952), English painter
Sam Julian Bramham OAM (b. 1988), Australian two-time gold and silver medalist Paralympic swimmer

Citations +

Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England. Institute of Historical Research, 1848, Print.
Reaney, P.H and R.M. Wilson, A Dictionary of English Surnames. London: Routledge, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-415-05737-X)
Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)
Smith, George (ed), Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1885-1900. Print
Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)