This name is of English locational origin from Great or Little Yeldham in Essex, recorded as Geldeham in the Domesday Book of 1086 and as Great/Little Gelham in the Pipe Rolls of that county, dated 1265. The first element in the name derives from the Olde English pre 7th Century "gield" translating as "payment, tribute or tax", plus the Olde English "ham(m)" meaning a homestead or enclosed piece of land. The name would therefore refer to a homestead or village which had to pay a certain tax. The surname from this source is well recorded in Essex Church Registers both as Yeldam and Yeldham from the mid 16th Century onwards. The marriage of one, Thomas Fance and a Margetha Yeldham took place in January 18th 1541 at Chelmsford. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Marie Yeldham married John Fennor. which was dated May 26th 1636, at Belchamp Walter, Essex. during the reign of King Charles I, The Martyr, 1625 - 1649. 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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