This name is of English locational origin from a place in Herefordshire now called Bullingham, but originally known as Bullinghope. Recorded as Boninhope in the Domesday Book of 1086 and as Bullingehope in the 1242 Fine Court Rolls of that county, the first element is the Olde English pre 7th Century personal byname Bul(l)a, from 'bula', a bull, plus 'ing', people of, and 'hope', a small enclosed valley, hence, 'the valley of Bulla's people'. The substitution of 'ham' meaning 'village' or 'homestead' for 'hope' occured prior to the 14th Century. Nicholas Bullingham (1512 - 1576), fellow of All Souls' College, Oxford (1536), became Bishop of Lincoln in 1560. On March 4th 1605 Elizabeth Bullingham and Henry Bowyer were married in St. Andrew by the Wardrobe, London and on June 8th 1718 John Bullingham married Ann Lawford in All Saints' Church, Herefordshire. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Richard Bullingham, graduate of Oxford, which was dated flourished circa 1350, during the reign of King Edward 111, The Father of the Navy, 1327 - 1377. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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