Maybe bit stupid

[K33NY]

But recently I have been thinking about one thing, in England there is many teams that ends theire name with Ham, and I was wondering if this has a meaning?

You have:

Fulham
West Ham
Nottingham
Tottenham
Birmingham
Rotherham
Gillingham
Oldham
Dagenham
Cheltenham

Then you allso have the team that has hampton in it.

Northampton
Southampton
Wolverhampton


Would be fun to know if it actually has a meaning to it :)

[grandad]

I think that the Ham refers to the place being a Hamlet. Ton I think means Town.

[jarv]

I think you are right grandad.  Well done.

[dartfordwhite]

I believe the 'hampton' part refers to a place that was used as a 'stop over' many years ago for people travelling up and down the country, somewhere to sleep and rest the horses etc. Something that's larger than a town but smaller than a city, well at least that's what I got from Northampton's shoe museum (what a day! Ha!)

[Holders]

Ham as in village or homestead (cognate with German Heim), Town derives from tun=farm - e.g Kingston was the king's farm. Place names ending in -by indicate Norse settlement and are all in the east of England. E.g a place called Holtby, for example, would be a village by a small wood or copse (holt).

[Alexis]

Perhaps this might help...
http://memeblender.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/west-ham-east-ham-fulham-nottingham.jpg

[EdenRob]

On a similar note any town or city ending 'caster' or 'chester' is usually the site of a Roman fortification.

[HatterDon]

I remember filling out a pools coupon and adding an 8x12 line based on matches only featuring teams with "ham" in their names. I couldn't find the last until a friend suggested I just choose West Bromwich Albieham.

[K33NY]

Thanks! Learned something new today! Its weird I can suddenly come up with questions like this, and then I have to get a answer! :P Im sstrange that way :P

[Black, White and Fred]

Ham as in village or homestead (cognate with German Heim), Town derives from tun=farm - e.g Kingston was the king's farm. Place names ending in -by indicate Norse settlement and are all in the east of England. E.g a place called Holtby, for example, would be a village by a small wood or copse (holt).

I believe Kingston upon Thames actually relates to the King's stone where former kings of England were crowned.

As for ham a great example is Twickenham.
Twickenham was a wicker making town. So in other words, Twickenham was 'The Hamlet of the Wickers'. Hope that makes sense.