Bassingham

This is an English locational surname. It originates from the small village of Bassingham near Kesteven in the county of Lincolnshire. Most locational surnames are 'from' names. That is to say that they are, or rather were, 'names' given to people who moved from their original homes, to somewhere else. This could be the next village, or in the case of English people it was often London, the only large city in the country and the only place that many country folk would have any knowledge of at all. The name Bassingham means 'The place (ham) of the Bass people (ing)', a pre 7th century tribe, whose name is also found in such place as Bassingbourn (Lincolnshire) and Bassenthwaite in Cumberland, as examples. In this case the surname is well recorded in Lincolnshire. Early examples of the recording include: John Basingham, a christening witness at Spalding on February 5th 1577, and the almost exactly similar recording of Reginalde, the son of Jhon Bassingame, also at Spalding, and only two months later on April 14th 1577. Other examples are William Bassingham of Upton, Lincolnshire, on February 8th 1718, and John and Anne Bassingham, whose daughter Mary Anne, was christened at Holbeach, on September 11th 1812.