This unusual name is of English locational origin, from the villages called East and West Rudham in Norfolk. The placename is first recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Rudeham" and in 1163 as "Ruddaham". The meaning is "Rudda's village", from the Old English pre 7th Century personal name "Rudda", and "ham" meaning a homestead enclosure or village. The following recordings of the surname all from Norfolk, illustrate the development of the name and the forms in which it can be found in the modern idiom:- Peter Rudrum 1645), Anne Ruddram (1675), Thomas Ruderham (1765) and Elizabeth Rudram, who married John Clark on the 18th February 1867, at St. Matthew's, Bethnal Green, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John Ruddram married "Rachel L". which was dated 3rd January 1634, Heigham, Norfolk. during the reign of King Charles I, The Martyr, 1625 - 1649. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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