Lanham
An English surname most likely shortened from the place-name Lavenham in Suffolk.
The #3,513 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 30,358 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname is generally explained as a reduced form of the English place-name Lavenham, in Suffolk. That place-name is usually taken to mean something like “Lafa’s homestead” or “Lafa’s estate,” with the second element being Old English -ham, “home, village, homestead.” In older surname books, the name is sometimes treated simply as a contraction of Lavenham.
History
Lanham appears to be one of several surname spellings that developed from a Suffolk place-name. Like many English locational surnames, it likely began as an identifier for someone who had moved away from that village. The name is well established in English-speaking countries, especially in the United States.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
19th-century surname writers often gave somewhat different explanations for names like this, but the Suffolk place-name derivation is the standard one today.
From the historical record
“oblong form. LANHAM. A contraction of Laveriham, a town in Suffolk, England; wbence the family originally came. "Welsh, Ltyfn, a smooth, level place. LANMAN. A lance-man spear-man. LANPHEAR. " Lann-feur" Gaelic, grass-land ; Lanrrfear, a pike-man. Lann, an inclosure ; a house ; a church ; land ; a sword. Feur…”
— An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names