Brixham

Recorded in a very wide range of spellings including Bricham, Brichen, Brichan, Brickham, Brickam, and Bricksham, and all quite rare, this surname is English and locational. It is almost certainly a variant form of the Devonshire town name Brixham, which itself appears as an occasional surname. It is in Devonshire that most examples of early recordings are to be found. The broad Devonshire and West County accent is capable of doing wonderous things with words and names, and when coupled with the erratic spelling from minimal education, over the centuries, it is perhaps a wonder that any surnames survive in their original forms at all. Locational surnames were 'from' names. That is to say names given to people after they had left their original homes to move somewhere else. That may be quite close, or far off in the city of London, but either way the easiest way to identify a stranger, was to call them by the name of the place from whence they came, or more usually a 'sounds like' version of it! Early examples of recordings taken from surviving church registers include Gill Brixham, recorded at Dartmouth Presbyterian church, on June 28th 1736, Mary Brichen, who married Josiah Gardner at St Georges Chapel, Hanover Square, Westminster, on December 19th 1750, and Sarah Brickam, christened at St Georges Meeting House, Exeter, on December 24th 1775.