Gayme History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England

Etymology of Gayme

What does the name Gayme mean?

The roots of the Anglo-Saxon name Gayme come from when the family resided on the bank of a river or stream named the of Cam. The surname Gayme is topographic in nature, the type of surname that was given to a person who resided near a physical feature such as a river or stream. The surname also refers to the camb, which is the crest of a hill or a dike.

Early Origins of the Gayme family

The surname Gayme was first found in Gloucestershire, where the name is associated with the village of Cam, a parish, in the union of Dursley, Upper division of the hundred of Berkeley.

"This place is distinguished as the scene of a battle fought between the Saxons and the Danes, in the reign of Edward the Elder. The parish takes its name from a rivulet that divides it into Upper and Lower, and falls into the Severn at Frampton." 1

In the Domesday Book survey of 1086 Cam was recorded as King's land. 2 Early in the history of the family name it branched to Lincolnshire, where Ralph de Caham was registered in 1162, to Norfolk, where Osbert de Cam was living during the reign of King Henry II, and to Hampshire, where Fabian de Cam was recorded in 1184 and William Cam in 1205. By the 13th century the name was established in Somerset, where William de Camme was living in 1214. Hugh de Camme was a resident of Gloucestershire in 1221. 3

The Hundredorum Rolls of 1273 lists the following: Henry del Cam, Suffolk; and Robert de Cam, Oxfordshire. Later the Yorkshire Poll Tax Rolls of 1379 listed Willelmus Cambe, conttabularius; Johannes Cambe; and Nicholaus Cambe as all holding lands there at that time. 4

Early History of the Gayme family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Gayme research. Another 258 words (18 lines of text) covering the years 1275, 1326, 1399, 1415, 1500, 1604, 1627, 1633, 1641, 1656, 1705, 1707, 1716, 1733 and 1771 are included under the topic Early Gayme History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Gayme Spelling Variations

The English language only became standardized in the last few centuries; therefore,spelling variations are common among early Anglo-Saxon names. As the form of the English language changed, even the spelling of literate people's names evolved. Gayme has been recorded under many different variations, including Cam, Camm, Camme, Caham, Cahm, Cahme and others.

Early Notables of the Gayme family

John de Cam, the Rector of Kirkby-Cane in Norfolk in 1326. David Gam (d. 1415), was a Welsh warrior, "more properly styled Davydd ab Llewelyn. 'Gam' is a nickname meaning 'squinting,' which, like other Welsh nicknames, became equivalent to a surname. David's father was Llewelyn, the son of Hywel, the son of Eineon Sais. Llewelyn possessed fair estates in the parishes of Garthbrengy and Llanddew,which lay within the honour or lordship of Brecon, a dependency of the earldom of Hereford, and after 1399 lapsed to the crown by the accession of Henry IV, who had long enjoyed that earldom. Peytyn was...
Another 140 words (10 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Gayme Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Gayme family

For many English families, the political and religious disarray that shrouded England made the far away New World an attractive prospect. On cramped disease-ridden ships, thousands migrated to those British colonies that would eventually become Canada and the United States. Those hardy settlers that survived the journey often went on to make important contributions to the emerging nations in which they landed. Analysis of immigration records indicates that some of the first North American immigrants bore the name Gayme or a variant listed above: Thomas Cam who arrived in Maine in 1605.

Sources +

Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England. Institute of Historical Research, 1848, Print.
Williams, Dr Ann. And G.H. Martin, Eds., Domesday Book A Complete Translation. London: Penguin, 1992. Print. (ISBN 0-141-00523-8)
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)