Denmead

This is an English surname of locational origins. Recorded in several spellings including Denmead, Denmed, and Denemead, it derives from the Hampshire village name of Denmead. First recorded in the year 1221 as 'Denmeda', the place name is of Olde English pre 7th century origins, from the words 'denu' meaning a valley and 'mede' a meadow, or literally 'the meadow in the valley'. Locational surnames are usually 'from' names. That is to say that the surname was given to a person when he, or sometimes she, left their original homesteads and moved elsewhere. This could be the next village, but as the search was often for work, the surname was often found in the church registers of the city of london. In fact this surname appears to be hardly recorded in Hampshire at all, and seemingly the first recording is that of Susanna Denmead, who married John Kemp, at St Thomas church, Portsmouth, on April 2nd 1808. In London the recording dates are much earlier. Robert Denmead, the son of Benjamin Denmead being recorded at St Botolphs without Aldgate on November 8th 1704, and William Denmed, whose son was also called William, was a witness at the same church, on November 14th 1736, and may have been related despite the spelling differences.