Last name origins & meanings:
- English (mainly southwestern England): variant spelling of
Hamm.
- 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’.
- Dutch: variant of
Hamme.
- Korean: there is only one Chinese character
for the Ham surname. Some sources report that there are sixty
different Ham clans, but only the Kangnŭng 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 Koryŏ general who fought against the Mongol
invaders in the thirteenth century. His ancestor, Ham Hyŏk, was a
Tang Chinese general who stayed in Korea after Tang China helped
Shilla unify the peninsula during the seventh century. Another of Ham
Hyŏk’s ancestors, Ham Shin, accompanied Kim Chu-wŏn, the
founding ancestor of the Kangnŭng Kim family, to the Kangnŭng
area, and hence the Ham clan became the Kangnŭng Ham clan. The
first prominent ancestor from Kangnŭng whose genealogy can be
verified is Ham Kyu, the Koryŏ general. Accordingly, he is
regarded as the Kangnŭng Ham clan’s founding ancestor.
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