Discombe

Recorded as Descomb, Discomb, Discombe, Discome, at first glance this is a surname of English origins. However given that there is no place listed under any of the known surnames spellings suggests that either it is from some now 'lost' medieval village which is possible, but more likely given that the first known recording below is as Descombes suggests a French origin. The 'Dictionnaire etymologique des noms de France' lists this as a surname from the departments of Centre and Sud-Ouest, the latter being an area of Huguenot Protestant activity in the 17th century. The placename and surname translate as 'a house situated in a valley' and the French spellings are Descombes and Descomps. It is not clear when the name first came to England but the first recording that we have is that of Etienne Paul Descombes at the French Church, Glasshouse Street, in the city of London, on September 23rd 1715, and fifty years later that of Henry Descombes who married Frederica Scheffers at the church of St Ann's Soho, Westminster on November 13th 1763. Thereafter the name seems to have been anglicized as Discombe, with Thomas Discombe being recorded at Endell Street Lying in Hospital, on April 16th 1795.