Have you heard..?

Question

Have you ever heard of that last name? -- What language is it from? Is anyone famous last name Putnam.

Answer 1

Go to the Google UK site  and search in "pages from the UK".   I knew two in the Liverpool area, one was my Geography teacher.

Answer 2

Putnam seems to come from different areas of Europe.  One famous Putnam was Israel Putnam.  He was a general who fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill.  There are also 9 counties throughout the United States named Putnam.

http://www.putnamfamily.com/genealogy.ht...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_Putn...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Putnam_Coun...

Answer 3

The name Putnam is of English origin.

Surname: Puttnam

This name is of English locational origin from the villages of Puttenham in Hertfordshire or Surrey. The Hertfordshire village is more likely, as it is earlier, being recorded as Puteham in the famous Domesday Book of 1086 and as Putenham in the 1212 Court Rolls of that county. Puttenham in Surrey is first recorded as Puteham in 1199. The name in both cases derives from the Olde English pre 7th Century personal nickname Putta meaning "Kite" (a bird of prey), plus "ham", a homestead. Hence,"Putta's ham". The surname is first recorded at the beginning of the 13th Century, (see below), and has appeared in several local slang forms including Puttnam, Putnam and the dialectally transposed Putman!. Early examples of the surname recordings taken from authentic church registers include Edward Putman or Putnam in the Oxford University Register of 1621, whilst on April 23rd 1753, the marriage of Elizabeth Puttnam and Richard Stevens is recorded in the register of Tring, Hertfordshire. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Ralph de Puteham. which was dated 1205, in the Pipe Rolls of the county of Buckinghamshire. This was during the reign of King John of England, 1199 - 1216

+

Putnam    

Old English: From the sire's estate

Last name origins & meanings:

English: habitational name from either of two places, in Hertfordshire and Surrey, called Puttenham, from the genitive case of the Old English byname Putta, meaning ‘kite’ (the bird) + Old English hām ‘homestead’.

John Putnam emigrated from England to Salem, MA, before 1641, and established a family that was still prominent in Massachusetts four generations later, including the revolutionary war soldier Israel Putnam (1718–90) and his cousin Rufus Putnam (1738–1824), also a soldier, one of the first settlers in OH.

Answer 4

I haven't heard of Putnam, but there's a place near me called PUTTENHAM, so perhaps it was originally that, but the spelling has changed over the years. It's possible.

Answer 5

Sounds like a UK based name to me, google David Putnam he was a film director.