At a Glance: Name: Bellingham – Meaning: possibly 'homestead of the people of a man nicknamed Bera ("bear")' or, for a different English village of the same name, 'homestead by a bell-shaped hill' — two distinct place-name origins exist – Origin: Old English (place name, surname transferred to given-name use) – Pronunciation: BEL-ing-ham
Bellingham is an Old English (place name, surname transferred to given-name use) name meaning “possibly 'homestead of the people of a man nicknamed Bera ("bear")' or, for a different English village of the same name, 'homestead by a bell-shaped hill' — two distinct place-name origins exist”. It appears in our list of 175+ State-Inspired Baby Names as American as They Come.
Meaning & Origin of Bellingham
Meaning: Possibly 'homestead of the people of a man nicknamed Bera ("bear")' or, for a different English village of the same name, 'homestead by a bell-shaped hill' — two distinct place-name origins exist.
Origin: Old English (place name, surname transferred to given-name use).
A common claim: "Homestead of Beora's people" Actually: The root personal name is recorded as Bera (a byname meaning "bear"), not Beora. A different English village also named Bellingham instead comes from a bell-shaped hill.
Source: Wiktionary.
How to Pronounce Bellingham
Phonetic: BEL-ing-ham IPA: /ˈbɛlɪŋhæm/
Popularity of Bellingham
Bellingham doesn’t appear in U.S. Social Security birth records, which include every name given to at least five babies in a year — so it’s rare in the U.S.
Lists That Include Bellingham
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