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The ham Surname

ham Name Meaning and History

  1. English (mainly southwestern England): variant spelling of Hamm.
  2. French: habitational name from any of the various places in northern France (Ardennes, Pas-de-Calais, Somme, Moselle) named with the Germanic word ham ‘meadow in the bend of a river’, ‘water meadow’, ‘flood plain’.
  3. Dutch: variant of Hamme.
  4. Korean: there is only one Chinese character for the Ham surname. Some sources report that there are sixty different Ham clans, but only the Kangnung Ham clan can be documented. Although some records have been lost and a few generations are unaccounted for, it is known that the founding ancestor of the Ham clan is Ham Kyu, a Koryo general who fought against the Mongol invaders in the thirteenth century. His ancestor, Ham Hyok, was a Tang Chinese general who stayed in Korea after Tang China helped Shilla unify the peninsula during the seventh century. Another of Ham Hyok’s ancestors, Ham Shin, accompanied Kim Chu-won, the founding ancestor of the Kangnung Kim family, to the Kangnung area, and hence the Ham clan became the Kangnung Ham clan. The first prominent ancestor from Kangnung whose genealogy can be verified is Ham Kyu, the Koryo general. Accordingly, he is regarded as the Kangnung Ham clan’s founding ancestor.

Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
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The ham name in History

A unique volume of fascinating facts, statistics and commentary following the ham family name as far back in history as possible.

ham Family Facts

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Distribution of ham Families in the US in 1920
Number of ham families
 95-188
 32-94		 1-31
 0
Compiled by Ancestry.com from the 1920 US Federal Census records

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Year

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The information for this map came from Ancestry.com’s US Federal Census Collection.
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More resources for your ham family history

Ham message board


Threads: 370 - Messages: 1128
ThreadAuthorReplies
Louisa Ham born 9/7/1872 Rotherhithe teribus1946 0
family of Troy Allen Ham 1890-1956 MelindaCarpenter33 5
Francis Ham, b 1791, Cornwall, England RaymondCumberworth 0
Charles William Ham 21gloucester 0
Michael Vaughn Ham Becky_Anson 2
Ham Family VA ~~SOMEONE PLEASE HELP~~~~ lpardluvinldy11 0
Free HAM Book Giveaway Contest odoniv 1
ham family east brent somerset SandyJoseph51 2
Ham family histories Lee Nichols 97
Gerald Hamel Manchester NH estcstjock 0
Viewing 1-10 of 370 |  Go to the full board

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