This famous surname recorded in various spellings including Melborn, Melbourn and Melbourne, is English. The world wide International Genealogical Index lists it in the same group as the similar surname of Milburn, but in fact there is no conection, although over the centuries spellings have overlapped and become 'fused' in some case. This surname which historically at least, is likely to be for ever associated with Lord Melbourne, the first Prime Minister to Queen Victoria in 1837, and is from any of the three places in England so named. These are Melbourn in Cambridge, recorded as Mellburna in the Domesday Book of 1086, and meaning the 'stream (burna) where meld (a herb) grows', in Yorkshire from Melbourne recorded as Middelburne in Domesday Book, and presumably meaning the middle stream between two other rivers although this is not proven, or Melbourne in Derbyshire meaning 'mill stream' and from where Lord Melbourne derived his peerage. His surname however was Lamb, not Melbourne. It is unclear as to when the surname was first recorded. Being a locational name it was one which was given to a person after they left their original home to move somewhere else, although that could be as close as the next village. In this case an early recording is that of Leonard Melbourne of Romaldkirk, in North Yorkshire, on June 24th 1650.

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