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ArchivesRe: surname meaning
in reply to a message by Sean Foglai
This is a mystery name. The ancestry site cited by Seán shows that there were only three families of this name in England and Wales in 1891. Things can't be much better today as there were are not the requisite minimum 100 individuals of the name in Britain to make it into the University College of London's surname distribution survey. The name seems to be well established in the US.
I agree with most of what's already been suggested: English place name (lost?), Com(b) ending meaning "valley". I'm not so sure about the first syllable meaning grey. I've an idea that place names ending in comb and combe tend to belong to the South-West of England, though I'm not certain about that. It's an old Celtic word, the same as the Modern Welsh Cwm.
I agree with most of what's already been suggested: English place name (lost?), Com(b) ending meaning "valley". I'm not so sure about the first syllable meaning grey. I've an idea that place names ending in comb and combe tend to belong to the South-West of England, though I'm not certain about that. It's an old Celtic word, the same as the Modern Welsh Cwm.
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