Recorded in several forms including Bamborough, Bambrough, and Bambrugh, this is an English surname. It is locational from the town called Bamborough, in the county of Northumberland, where the surname is still prevalent. Bamborough was built by King Ida of Northumbria about the year 547 a.d and according to the Anglo-Saxon historian, the Venerable Bede who died in about the year 672 a.d., it was originally named "Bebbanburh," or the fortress (burh) of Bebba, after Queen Bebba of Aethelfrith, the wife of Ida. The placename is first recorded in the famous Anglo-Saxon Chronicles of the year 890, several centuries before the emergence of the surname. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles are sometimes called the first nerwspaper, being a series of registers of social life in the Dark Ages. During the later Medieval Period around the 14th century, people were often forced to leave their birthplace in search of work. In so doing they would often adopt, or be given, as their surname, the name of the place from whence they came. However in this case the surname is also prominent in the town itself, suggesting that some nameholders at least, descend from the original lords of the manor. The first recorded spelling of the family name is that of Beatrix de Bamburg of Northumberland, in Hundred Rolls of the year 1272, whilst Willam de Bambrugh of Coldinham, appears in the charters of 1355. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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