Recorded in several spellings including Rentcomb, Rentcombe, Rentcome and Rentcom, this is an English locational surname. It originates either from the little village of Rentscombe near the famous Corfe Castle, in the county of Dorset, in what used to be one of the most glorious and unspoilt parts of England, or just possibly for some nameholders, from Rendcombe, a village in the county of Gloucestershire. The Dorset village is ancient being first recorded as Hreminescumbe in the year 987 a.d., and in the famous Domesday book a century later as Romescumbe. It is claimed that the meaning is 'ravens valley'. The Glocester village is nearly as old being recorded in Domesday Book as Rindecumbe, which seems to originate from the Olde English word 'gerumpen', meaning wrinkled, to give the meaning of wrinkled valley! In a general sense, the surname is quite rare, although it is possible that a pocket of nameholders may be found in an area that we have not covered. It is not found in Dorset or Gloucester, but appears in the surviving church registers of the city of London with Charles Rentcome being so recorded at St Mary's Hamondsworth, on December 15th 1765.

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