The surname Durham
A place surname, carried by 43,635 people in the United States.
Pronounced /ˈdɝəm/ 2 syllables Soundex D650
Origin
From Old English Dūnholm, which is from dun (“hill”) + Old Norse holm (“islet, island”). In order to get from Dunholm to Durham, two major processes had to take place. Firstly, the n at the coda of the first syllable, dun, underwent dissimilation. Specifically, by influence of the m in the coda of the following syllable (holm), said n denasalised and lenited to the oral r, thus dur. Secondly, after a weakening of the vowel quality in the more weakly-stressed syllable holm, this ending was misanalysed as the similar-sounding toponymic suffix, -ham, meaning home or farm. Doublet of Duresm and Dunelm.
Durham is a place surname: taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.
Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How common it is
2010 US Census
There were 43,635 people named Durham in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 7,076 Americans. That is up 3.0% since 2000, when the Census counted 42,365.
Who is named Durham
Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census
73% of people named Durham identified as white (not Hispanic), 22% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.2% as two or more races.
- White (not Hispanic) 73%
- Black (not Hispanic) 22%
- Two or more races 2.2%
- Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.2%
- American Indian and Alaska Native 0.6%
- Asian and Pacific Islander 0.4%
Famous Durhams
6 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first
- Edith DurhamBritish artist (1863-1944)
- Jimmie DurhamAmerican artist (1940–2021)
- Rhea DurhamAmerican model, born 1978
- Eddie DurhamAmerican musician (1906-1987)
- David Anthony DurhamAmerican writer, born 1969
- William Howard DurhamAmerican preacher and theologian (1873–1912)
Notable Durhams come mostly from the United States (5) and the United Kingdom (1).
Spellings and sound-alikes
Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling
Durham has the Soundex code D650, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code D650.
Questions
- Where does the surname Durham come from?
- From Old English Dūnholm, which is from dun (“hill”) + Old Norse holm (“islet, island”). In order to get from Dunholm to Durham, two major processes had to take place. Firstly, the n at the coda of the first syllable, dun, underwent dissimilation. Specifically, by influence of the m in the coda of…
- How common is the surname Durham?
- 43,635 people in the United States had the surname Durham in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 7,076 Americans. It ranked 792nd of 162,253 surnames.
- What ethnicity is the surname Durham?
- In the 2010 Census, 73% of people named Durham identified as white (not Hispanic), and 22% as Black (not Hispanic).
- Who is the most famous person named Durham?
- Edith Durham, British artist (1863-1944), followed by Jimmie Durham.
- Where is the surname Durham most common?
- Wikidata records people named Durham in the United States and the United Kingdom.
- How do you pronounce Durham?
- Durham is /ˈdɝəm/, 2 syllables.
- What type of surname is Durham?
- Durham is a place surname, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.
- Is the surname Durham getting more or less common?
- More common. 42,365 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 43,635 in 2010, up 3.0%.