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BLOXAM
The name of Bloxam began back in the time when the Saxons came to the British Isles. Two brothers by the name of Blocc started a village, and it was called Bloccs' Hamlet. Thus, Bloccsham, which turned to Bloxham. There have also been different spellings that can be found in ancient Saxon texts: Blossom, Blossome, Bloxsome, Blossun, Bloyan, Bloxholmedax, Bloxen, Blossam, and Bloxom. These even varied between father and son.
There is a story that says that the head of the family of Bloxam who possessed the family estates in Bloxham, Oxfordshire, England, ruined himself by gambling and became a waiter at an inn or innkeeper in the place where he had been the principal resident. His descendents migrated into Gloucestershire, and there assumed for a time the name of Ingles. The surname of the family appears to have been in very early times de Bloxham, and there is but little doubt that the de Bloxhams took the name according to the customs of the times, either from the manor of Bloxham, which it is believed once belonged to them, or on account of their other estates and residence being at Bloxham. Probably the de Bloxhams dropped the de about the reign of Henry V, that being the period of which most English families, who used the same style, made similar alternations in their names. [source: Susan Bloxam]
The family motto in Latin is "Non timere sed fortiter", which literally means "Not to fear, but bravely" [source: N. Tenney] and loosely translates to "Not rashley, but boldly" [source: Bloxsom Family Crest].
The most ancient coat of arms for Bloxam, which consists of a jagged, silver, horizontal strip between the heads of three wyverns, is found below. The Latin motto is "Dum spiro spero", which means "While I have breath, I hope" [source: Bloxam Coat of Arms].
Also, the Bloxam family crest is a wyvern's head
with a spear impaled through it.
BLOXSOM
[source:
Bloxsom
Family Crest]
The Anglo-Saxon name Bloxsom comes from its first
bearer, who was a for a person who was lovely and full of promise. This
surname was originally derived from the Old English word Blostma, which
was used in the 15th century to describe a graceful and self-assured person.
Spelling variations include: Blossom, Blossome,
Bloxam, Bloxham, Bloxsome, Blossun, Bloyan, Bloxholmedax, Bloxen and many
more.
First found in Oxfordshire, where they held
a family seat from ancient times, long before the Norman Conquest in 1066.
Some of the first settlers [in the United
States] of this name or some of its variants were: Joseph Bloxham who
settled on the Potomac in 1729; John Bloxam settled in New England in
1742; Nicholas Bloxam settled in the Barbados in 1635; Anne Blossom settled
in Plymouth, Mass. in 1629.
The coat of arms for the name Bloxsom, which
consists of a jagged, silver, horizontal strip between the heads of three
wyverns, is found below.
