Meacham
An English surname most likely from the place-name Mitcham in Surrey, meaning someone who came from that village.
The #5,615 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 49,878 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Meacham is generally taken as a locational surname, especially from Mitcham in Surrey. The place-name is usually explained from Old English elements meaning something like “big settlement” or “homestead by a bend,” though the exact place-name origin is not perfectly settled in the older sources. In surname use, the name would originally have identified a person by where they came from rather than by family line alone.
History
19th-century surname dictionaries commonly grouped Meacham with forms such as Meakin and Meachen and linked it to Mitcham. The spelling has varied over time, and the name appears in several altered forms in English records and later in North America. Today it is a relatively uncommon surname, with a modest but visible presence in the United States.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older surname books often cross-reference Meacham under the place-name Mitcham, showing how easily local surnames could shift spelling over time.
From the historical record
“calfe. MECHAM. See Meacham. INIECHAXT. Fr. Bad, wicked. ^lEDCALF. See ^letcalfe.”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom