Windham

Recorded as Windham, Wyndham, and originally Wymondham, this is an English locational surname. It originates from any or all of the three places known as Wymondham in the counties of Leicestershire, Norfolk, or Wiltshire. All were recorded in the famous Domesday Book of 1086 commissioned by King William 1st and otherwise known as "The Conqueror" (1066 - 1087). All appear as Wimundesham which according to the Oxford Dictionary of English Place names means "Wigmund's farm" with Wigmund being an early personal name probably of Anglo-Saxon 5th century origins. It is unclear when the slang forms became the acceptable pronunciation, and whether this pronunciation applies to all three places, although it certainly applies in Norfolk. Locational surnames are either those given to the local lord of the manor and his descendants, or more usually to people who left their original villages probably in search of work, and were thereafter identified by the name of their former homestead. Spelling being at best erratic and local dialects pretty thick, lead to the creation of "sounds like" spellings. The first recording that we have is that of Thomas de Wymundham in the tax rolls known as the Feet of Fines for the county of Essex in 1261, whilst Ralph Wyndeham appears in the Subsidy Tax rolls of Sussex in 1327.