Baham

• Bayham

Borrowed from French Baham. See there for more.

• (Louisiana) IPA^(key): /ˈbeɪhæm/, [ˈbʰɛj.hæ̃m], enPR: bāʹ-hăm
• Rhymes: -eɪhæm
• Homophone: Bayham

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Baham (plural Bahams)

1. (Louisiana) A surname from French, common among Louisiana Creoles.

• Not to be confused with Barham.

• According to the 2010 United States Census, Baham is the 14316^th most common surname in the United States, belonging to 2090 individuals. Baham is most common among White (56.65%) and Black/African American (34.11%) individuals.

• Bahan, Bahans

From earlier Bahans, a rare surname found in the department of Gironde in France. Meaning unknown. It could be related to Baa, the name of several hamlets in the department of Landes, or even to the surnames Bahain and Baheigne from the same department. In any case, the name could possibly be a toponym with the meaning "basin, cuvette" (cf. the dialectal words ba (“bassin, trough”) and bahine, an old variant of baïne, defined as an "elongated pit or basin dug on the beach by the waters and retaining the water like a bathtub").^[1][2]

The surname made its way to southern Louisiana by way of Jean Baptiste Baham dit Gentil (formerly Bahans, and rendered variously as Bahan, Baan, and Bon)^[3], who was born in 1730 in Barsac, Gironde, and who settled in what is now St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, where he died c. 1812.^[4]

Unrelated to English Bahamas.

• IPA^(key): /ba.ɑ̃/
• (Louisiana) IPA^(key): [ba.ɑ̃], [ba.ɔ̃]
• Rhymes: -ɑ̃
• Homophones: Bahan, Bahans

Baham ?

1. (especially Louisiana) a surname from French, common among Louisiana Creoles

• → English: Baham, Bayham