Recorded as Mafam, Mafham, Mapam, Mapham, Mapholm, and possibly others, this is an English locational surname. Well recorded in the surviving church registers of the city of London mainly as Mapham, and in the county of Yorkshire, from the early 18th century, mainly as Mafham, it is locational. It originates from a place whose name derived from the Olde English pre 7th century words 'mapul' meaning the maple tree, and 'ham', a farm or homestead or 'waella', a stream. There are or were several places with this translation including Mapledurham, villages in Hampshire and Oxfordshire, as well as Mapledurwell also in Hampshire, although this translates as the maples by the stream. It is possible that other places may have existed which are now 'lost', and from which this particular surname spelling may have originated as it is estimated that at least three thousand British Isles surnames do originate from 'lost' villages. Early examples of surname recordings include John Mapham who married Elizabeth Smyth at St James Clerkenwell, in the city of London, on April 28th 1616, Richard Mafham who married Jane Frier at Barningham in North Yorkshire, on April 29th 1739, and John Mafam who was christened at the church of St Faith, under St Pauls Cathedral, cit of London, on July 10th 1740,

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