Thatcham

This is an English locational surname. It originates from the village now called Thakeham, in the county of Sussex. This village is first recorded in the year 1073 in the spelling of Tacaham, and later in the famous Domesday Book of 1085 as Taceham. These early spellings would indicate that the meaning was the "Thatched Settlement", although quite why any place should be singled out as "thatched", when thatching was almost the only used form of roofing, is a mystery. As a locational surname it follows the traditional development of being a 'from' name. That is to say that it was a name generally given to people after they left their original homes and moved elsewhere. It was and sometimes remains, that the easiest way to identify a stranger was to call him or sometimes her, by the name of the place from whence they came. Local dialects in the post medieval period being almost individual languages, and spelling being at best erratic, lead to the development of "sounds like" spellings. In this case the name is known to be recorded in the spellings of Thackham, Thacham, Techam, Thickim, Thatcham and possibly Thackman. The name itself is rarely to be found in early Sussex registers, but is widely recorded in the diocese of Greater London. These early recordings include: Robert Thacham, the son of John Thacham, christened at St James church, Clerkenwell, on September 6th 1585, and William Thackham, a witness at St Giles Cripplegate, on April 29th 1595. Richard Thatchim married Susan Cork at Ticehurst, Sussex, on September 13th 1684, and this is believed to be one of the earliest recordings within the county itself.