Blemen

Recorded in England and Ireland in several spellings including Blueman, Blemen, Blemens, Blemings, Blemmings, and Blewmens, this is nethertheless a very rare surname. It is so rare that only one recording appears in the current London Telephone Directory. It is believed to be of early German or possibly Flemish origins, being recorded in Germany in the medieval period, and rather later in Britain. If this is correct, the surname is occupational, deriving from the Old German word 'blei', meaning lead, a 'Bleimeister' being one in charge of a lead works. The early spellings as 'Bleiman(n) and Bleyman(n)' would indicate a foreman or supervisor, the person directly answerable to the Bleimeister. The origin of the surname in England and Ireland has almost certainly nothing to do with the manufacture of lead, as its first recording date is several centuries after the formation of surnames. It probably owes its arrival and subsequent recordings to 'The Reformation' of the Christian church in Northern Europe, and the influx into Britain of protestant Huguenot refugees. Many of these people settled in Ulster, a number taking part in the battle of the Boyne in 1690, which established protestant supremacy in the north of Ireland. Random examples of the surname recordings include John Blemaine, christened at Holy Trinity in the Minories, London, on January 4th 1662, Rebecca Blemmins, christened at St James Clerkenwell, on June 14th 1741, and in Ireland, John Blemings, at Dungannon, County Tyrone, on May 15th 1867. The first recorded spelling of the family name is possibly that of Nicolas Bleyman, which was dated 1422, in the charters of Hainwalde, Zittau, Germany. This was during the reign of Emperor Sigismund, of the German Empire, 1410 - 1437. There are few straight lines with surnames, and considerable caution has to be used when make deducements, particularly where the spelling forms have changed over the centuries.