Fincham

This unusual name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational surname that derives from the place called Fincham near Downham Market in Norfolk. The placename is first recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "P(h)incham", and in the 1095 Documents from the Abbey of Bury St. Edmunds as "Fincham". The placename means the homestead frequented by finches, derived from the Olde English pre 7th Century "finc", finch, with "ham", village, estate, manor or homestead. Locational surnames were usually acquired by a local landowner, or by the lord of the manor, and especially by those former inhabitants of a place who had moved to another area, and were thereafter best identified by the name of their birthplace. Recordings from English Church Registers include: the christening of Agnes Fincham December 18th 1569, at Stow Bardolph, Norfolk; the marriage of William Fincham and Alice Foster in Wimbotsham, Norfolk, in 1592; and the marriage of Simeon Fincham and Mary Anthony on September 25th 1626, at Allhallows, Honey Lane, London. The family Coat of Arms is on a silver shield three black bars and an ermine bend, the Crest being a gold hind's head erased, in the mouth a branch of green holly, fructed red. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Nigellus de Fincham, which was dated circa 1100, in the "Records of the County of Norfolk", during the reign of King William 11, known as "Rufus", 1087 - 1100. 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.