Hollamby Family History

A variant of Hollingbury which has apparently not survived in that shape. There is a local place-name of this form in Brighton (Sussex) which is not found in early records and can probably be discounted since the surname seems to come from eastern Kent and to have changed to its present form during its westward migration. It does not seem possible to link it with Hollingbourne (Kent) which has no spellings of this type in its records.

Alternatively, perhaps a variant of the Sussex name Hollebon (earlier Holbeme, Howbeam) as suggested by Thomas Howbeame 1561 and James Hollumbee 1618 in IGI (Ripe, Sussex). The m may have been metathesized turning Hollebeme into Hollumbee or the -an- of an earlier Middle English *Holanbeme may have survived in some pronunciations of the surname.

However, the two names may have occurred in Ripe by coincidence and be unrelated.