Hames

This unusual name is of Norman origin and derives from a personal name "Hamo" or "Hamon" which was introduced into England after the conquest of 1066. It is derived from the Germanic given name "Haimo", itself a short form of any of the compound names with the first element "haim", which means "home". The surname from this source is more familiar as Hammond with a typical English excrescent "d" ending, but it is also found as Ham(m)on, Hame and Haime, while Haimes, Hames, Haymes and Ham(s)son are the patronymic forms, meaning "son of Hamon". One Clement Haimes was an early emigrant to the New World; he left London on the "Amitie" in October 1635 bound for St. Christophers in the Barbadoes. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Thomas del Hames, which was dated 1332, in the "Cumberland Subsidy Rolls", during the reign of King Edward III, known as "The Father of the Navy", 1327 - 1377. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.