Gobourn

Recorded in a number of spellings including Gabhorne, Goubourn, Goborne, Goborn, Goburne, Goburn, and possibly others, this is apparently an English surname. It would seem to be locational, and to orginate from a place whose Olde English pre 7th century spelling may have been 'gap-horn', meaning a valley in a tongue of land, or 'gap-burna', a stream which ran through a gap or valley. Unfortunately we are unable to find any such place or indeed anything quite like it. This is not entirely unusual. It is estimated that over five thousand surnames of the British Isles do originate from now 'lost' medieval villages, whose only public reminder in the 21st century of its very existance, is the surname, as with this one spelt in a number of forms. As to why villages 'disappeared' has been the subject of much research. Originally it was usually a change in agricultural practices, although the various great plagues of the 13th to 17th centuries played a part, as did later increasing urbanisation, the drainage of the fens, and even war and coastal erosion. In this case we have found early examples of the surname recording in the early surviving church registers of Greater London. These recordings from the Elizabethan period include Thomas Goborn at St Mary's Kensington, on April 9th 1570, and William Goburne at St. Stephans Coleman Street in the city of London, on February 28th 1598.