English Place-name Society

Survey of English Place-Names

A county-by-county guide to the linguistic origins of England’s place-names – a project of the English Place-Name Society, founded 1923.

Bluntisham

Major Settlement in the Parish of Bluntisham cum Earith

Historical Forms

  • Bluntesham EdwConf KCD907 12th DB 1086 BM 1103–31
  • Bluntsome 1545 BM
  • Blunesham 1549 Pat
  • Bluntsam E6 BM
  • Blunsham Eliz ChancP

Etymology

'Blunt's homestead' v. ham . It is clear that there must have been a pers. name Blunt in OE for it is found in Blunsdon (W), DBBluntesdone , Blunteshale in Essex (cf. Colchester Cartulary ii. 526), Bluntington (Wo), Bluntesig (KCD 666) and in Bluntesdiche in Needingworth (Ramsey Cartulary 294). In this last case, however, the reference is probably to the same person as in Bluntisham itself. The name is doubtless the same as the ordinary word blunt , but its origin is as obscure as that of that word.

Places in the same Parish