Letchmore

Recorded as Letchmore and the more usual Litchmore, this is an English surname. It originates from the twin hamlets known as Letchmore Green and Letchmore Heath, both in the county of Hertfordshire. The meaning of the name is probably 'The fenced farm on the moor', from the pre 7th century Olde English word 'lycce' meaning an enclosure, although the Norse word 'lycka' which also means the same, is a possible candidate. Locational surnames are by their nature 'from' names. That is to say names that were usually given to people after they left their original homesteads to move somewhere else. In so doing, they took or were given, as their surname, the name of their former village. Spelling being at best indifferent, and local accents very thick, often lead to the development of 'sounds like' spellings. In this case the surname is well recorded in the surviving church registers of the diocese of Greater London with examples such as: Nicholas Litchmore, christened at the church of St John the Evangelist, in the city of London, on September 6th 1655. This was during the 'reign' of Oliver Cromwell. A century later we have the recording of Hannah Letchmore who married Will Rudd at St Georges Mayfair, on January 17th 1749.