Wortham

Etymology

Wortham is a habitational surname, taken from the place called Wortham in Suffolk. The place-name is generally explained as Old English worþ, meaning an enclosure, homestead, or farmstead, plus hām, meaning homestead or village. So the name would originally have meant something like “the homestead by the enclosure” or “the farmstead settlement.”

History

This surname would have been adopted by people who left Wortham and were identified by their place of origin. The Suffolk place is the main source usually cited for the surname, though similar-looking local names elsewhere can sometimes complicate surname tracing. In England it remained relatively uncommon, and the name later spread to North America and other English-speaking countries through migration.

Origin

Regions

Variant spellings

Fun fact

Wortham is one of several English surnames built from the very common Old English place-name ending -ham, which appears in hundreds of English village names.