Slocum
A surname probably from an English place-name meaning “at the valley,” later carried to America in several spellings.
The #3,899 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 33,921 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The most likely origin is locational, from an English place-name built on the word for a valley or hollow. Older surname writers connected it with the same root seen in words like "combe" and with forms such as "Slo-combe," suggesting a meaning along the lines of “the valley place.” The ending has varied in spelling over time, which is why Slocum, Slocomb, and Slocombe appear as related forms.
History
The name is best known in English-speaking countries, especially the United States, where the form Slocum became established in colonial and post-colonial records. Historical spellings vary, and some 19th-century surname writers grouped it with other topographic names rather than treating it as a purely hereditary family name from the start. The surname is also found in the variant Slocomb.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Several early surname compilations list Slocum alongside other names derived from landscape features, which is a strong clue that it began as a place-based surname.
From the historical record
“COMBE, Anglo-Saxon, a valley; Welsh, cwm, a vale, from which we have Balcombe, Bascombe, Slocum. COT, CETE, Saxon, a cottage; COTE, French, the sea-coast ; a hill, hillock ; down ; the side. Several names are composed of these words, as Cotesworth, Lippencot, Westcot.”
— An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names