This intriguing and rare name is of medieval English origin and is a dialectal variant of the locational name 'Lumb', from places so called in Lancashire and West Yorkshire, and derives from the Old English pre 7th Century 'lum(m)', a pool. 'Lum' is also a dialectal term for, a well for collecting water in a mine, and places called Lomax (Lancashire) and Humley (County Durham) derive from this meaning and it is also possible that these places are another source of the surname. The earliest recording of Lumb in Rossendale in Lancashire is 'Le Lome', (1534 Court Rolls of Lancashire). In the modern idiom the variants are, Lum, Loom, Lombe, and Loomes, Lumb. Amongst the sample recordings in Yorkshire are, Sarah Limb, who married Richard Lee on October 26th 1739 in Doncaster, and Jaines Limb, christened on November 6th 1795 at Fishlake. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John del Lumme, which was dated 1327, Court Rolls of the Manor of Wakefield, Yorkshire, 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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