Thame

This is one of the earliest locational names which originates in Ancient Britain, i.e. pre the Roman Invasion of 54 A.D., but in fact is cognate with the Sinskrit (Indian) "Tamasa" meaning "The Dark River". The modern surnames of Tame, Thame and Thames originate from the villages of Tame (Leicester, Stafford and Warwick) or Thame (Leicester, Berkshire and Oxford) or the river Thames. The location is first recorded in 51 B.C. (Julius Caesar) as "Tamesis", the surname development and recordings include Edmund Tame of Buckingham in the 27th year of King Henry VIII (1537), whilst Elizabeth Thame married Edward Matheu at St. Mary Aylesbury on October 23rd 1587. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Clarissa de Tame, which was dated 1273, The Pipe Rolls of Oxfordshire, during the reign of King Edward I, The Hammer of the Scots, 1272 - 1307. 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.