Babbage Family History

English (Devon): perhaps a nickname for someone given to mockery or fooling people or alternatively for someone who stammered or spoke indistinctly. The source looks like an unrecorded Anglo-Norman French ba(u)bich bobich Middle English ba(u)bi(s)ch bobi(s)ch with two possible senses.

It could be related to Middle English babishen ‘to mock scoff at’ from the same root as Old French baubir bober ‘to mock deride make fun of’ and Anglo-Norman French baubeur ‘false insincere person’ (compare Middle English bobben ‘to deride make a fool of’).

Alternatively, the surname might be related to Anglo-Norman French balbuisir (from Latin balbutire) ‘to stammer speak indistinctly’ with the same root as Old French bauber Anglo-Norman French baber ‘to stammer’ and Anglo-Norman French baube ‘stammering’ (from Latin balbus) and baubeur ‘stammerer’.

In some cases also an Americanized form of Serbian Babić (see Babic).