Surname Sham - Meaning and Origin
all surnames with 'S'
Sham: What does the surname Sham mean?
Sham is a surname that can be found in various cultures but it has different meanings depending upon the cultural context. In Arabic, it is the regional name for a district that is inclusive of Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and Israel, depicting a procured association from this region. It represents the historical and cultural connotation of the region often referred to as the Levant. The surname may have been assigned to a family who originated or migrated from this region.
In Jewish Ashkenazic tradition, Sham possibly relates to an ornamental name embodied from Yiddish "sham" which symbolizes ‘shame’ or ‘disgrace’, though the exact reason for this is uncertain.
In Chinese culture, Sham is a Cantonese romanization of various Chinese surnames including Shen, Shan, or Tan. It could also be a Mandarin transcription of a different surname, Chen.
Individuals with the Sham surname can be found in various parts of the world, most extensively in the United States, Hong Kong, and England. It is noteworthy that the meaning could be mixed and diverse due to the effects of global migration and the blending of different cultural heritages.
Order DNA origin analysisSham: Where does the name Sham come from?
The last name Sham is believed to have originated in either Scotland or Ireland. The name is most commonly found today in Scotland, Ireland, Canada, India, and the United States.
In Scotland, the name Sham is most often seen in the counties of Angus, Tayside, and Fife. In Ireland, many Sham families today live in Dublin and Cork. Canadian Sham families are typically concentrated in the province of Nova Scotia.
In India, the Sham name is primarily found in the Punjab region. In the United States, states with some Sham families include Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey, and California.
The surname Sham may originate from the Gaelic word "seam," meaning "vigilant," or the Hebrew name Sham, which means "peace." It could have derived from the Scottish word “Sham” meaning “shade” or the Gaelic personal name Seamas, which was derived from the same root. It could have also been an Anglicized form of the Irish surname O'Shaughnessy, which is an anglicized version of the personal name Ó Shaonghuis.
The Sham surname is considered to be of both Scottish and Irish origin. Today, members of the Sham family can be found all over the world, especially in Scotland, Ireland, Canada, India, and the United States
Variations of the surname Sham
The surname Sham is of British origin and is believed to have been derived from an Anglo-Saxon word meaning "stone". Variants, spellings and surnames of the same origin for the surname Sham are Shamm, Scham, Shum, Schumm, Shammel, and Shamme.
Sham is an uncommon surname in modern times and is found predominantly in the United Kingdom, particularly Wales and England. It was likely a spelling variant of the original Anglo-Saxon word, "sceamu" (stone). It has also been suggested that the name could be derived from a place-name, such as the parish then of Shammes in Oxfordshire, England, which became a surname, and was later spelled as Sham.
The spelling variant Scham can be found in Lancashire, England, and is another spelling for Sham. The variants Schumm and Shumm are both likely related to Scham, and were likely used as nicknames in the past, with Shumm being used mostly in Scotland and Ireland.
The surname Shammel was found predominantly in Northamptonshire, England in the nineteenth century, and is derived from the Old English "sceammel", which could mean either a rock or a boundary-stone. Similarly, the variant, Shamme, was found in Somerset in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
The variants of Sham are fairly uncommon nowadays, though a few families still bear them. Their history can be traced back to the eleventh century and tell a story of a name that has been intertwined with the history of Great Britain.
Famous people with the name Sham
- Faisal Shamim: Pakistani-born YouTuber, athlete, and entrepreneur
- Zubaidah Sham: Filipino prima ballerina
- Shaista Sham: Pakistani film actress
- Qazi Zahoor-ul-Hassan Sham: Pakistani industrialist and philanthropist
- Aurangzeb Sham: Pakistani actor
- Ahmed Shamim: Bangladeshi lawyer, politician, and former Olympian
- Naz syndanao Sham: Philippine folk songwriter and musician
- Sham Sundar: Indian playback singer
- Anja Sham: German actress and writer
- Sandeep Sham: Indian physician and organ transplant specialist