Burlingame
A surname of English place-name origin, carried to the U.S. from Burlingham in Norfolk.
The #8,472 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 79,226 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Burlingame is generally taken as a spelling variant of Burlingham, a place name in Norfolk, England. The final element is the Old English word for a village or homestead, while the first element is likely an older personal name or local descriptive element that has been preserved in the place-name form. In surname use, it therefore means someone who came from Burlingham.
History
The name appears in English records as a locational surname, but the form Burlingame is especially associated with the United States. One 19th-century source notes that the surname had “thrived in America” and developed this spelling there. It is a good example of how immigrant surnames could shift spelling after crossing the Atlantic.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
A 19th-century surname writer specifically remarked that Burlingame had become established in America in this altered form.
From the historical record
“BURLEY. SeeLEGG. BURLINGAME. A U. S. name ; from Burlingham, name of three parishes in Norfolk. But see WALKINGHAME. BURY. From Bury, name of parishes, towns, &c., cos. Hants, Lancaster, Suffolk, Sussex. But see BORROW. BUSS. Lower says that in the south of England this is a common nickname of Barnabas. BUST. A…”
— Ludus Patronymicus; or, the etymology of curious surnames