This interesting surname is a locational name from Cam in Gloucestershire, deriving it's name from the Cam River, from "cam" meaning "crooked". The name is recorded as "Camma" in the Domesday Book, and as "Camme" or "Ka(u)mne" in the 1221 Assize Court Rolls of Gloucestershire. It can also be locational from Caen, in Calvado, France. Finally it can be a nickname for a one-eyed person. The name date's back to the late 11th Century (see below). Further recordings include Ralph de Caham (circa 1162) in the "Documents illustrative of the Social and Economic History of the Danelaw, Lincolnshire", and Walter de Cam in the 1205 Pipe Rolls of Yorkshire. Variations in the idiom of the spelling include Cam, and Camme. Recordings from London Church Registers include the christening of William, son of Randolph Cam, at St. Margaret Moses, on February 3rd 1570; the christening of Joyce, daughter of William Camm, in April 1588, at St. Margaret's, Westminster; the marriage of Anne Cambe and Robert Seale, at St. Gregory by St. Paul, on February 22nd 1635; and the christening of Isabell, daughter of William and Christian Camm, at St. Margaret's, Westminster, on December 6th 1646. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William de Cadam, which was dated 1086, in the Domesday Book of Suffolk, during the reign of King William 1, known as "The Conqueror", 1066 - 1087. 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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