Abram
Usually from the Lancashire place-name Abram, though some bearers descend from the biblical personal name Abraham.
The #6,201 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 55,993 Americans shares it.
Etymology
In English surname use, Abram is often a locational name taken from Abram in Lancashire, a township in the parish of Wigan. Older surname writers said this place-name was formerly written in forms like Adburgham, which helps explain why the surname could evolve into Abram. In some families, however, Abram is simply a shortened form of Abraham, the biblical name meaning 'father of a multitude' in Hebrew.
History
The name appears in medieval records in both place-based and baptismal forms, and Lancashire seems to be a particularly important region for the locational surname. Later surname dictionaries also note related forms such as Abrams and Abramson. In some Jewish families, Abram has also been used as a reduced or modified form of Abraham.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Nineteenth-century surname scholars specifically linked the Lancashire Abram family name to a township near Wigan, making it one of those surnames that can point to a very local origin.
From the historical record
“Lancaster. ABRAM. ABRAMS. ABRAMSON. See under Abraham. ABRINCIS DE. From Avranches, in Normandy. " Eualo de Abriiicis, or Ave- renches, a valiant and skilful soldier, mar- rying Maud, daughter and heir of Nigel de Mandevil, lord of Folkestone, had all her lands and honours given to him iu marriage by King Henry I."…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom