Bampkin

This interesting surname recorded in the spellings of Bamb, Bampkin, Bamblet and Bamblett, the latter three forms being diminutives, is an English surname. It is a metonymic occupational surname for a seller of spices or perfumes and ointments. The derivation is from the word "balme", an aromatic substance prized for its medicinal qualities. Balme derives from the Latin "balsamun", meaning medicines, the word being being a Roman introduction to England in the period after the 1st Century a.d. The surname as Balmer derives from the same source, this being occupational for one employed as an embalmer. Job-descriptive surnames originally denoted the actual occupation of the namebearer, and gradually became hereditary. Recordings of the surname taken from early suriving church registers of the medieval period onwards include: Jone Bamblet, who married Richard Dixon at the church of St Nicholas Bassishaw in the city of London, on June 23rd 1594, the marriage of William Boam and Margaret Batkyne, at Stowe in Staffordshire, on May 22nd 1611, John Bampkin, a witness at the church of St Mary Whitechapel, also city of London, on October 23rd 1767, and Sarah Bamblett, who married George Collins at the famous church of St Mary-le-Bone, Marylebone, on April19th 1810. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.