Durham surname meaning

Durham is an English habitational name from the city of Durham, recorded as Dunholm in 1056 and Duram in 1297. The place-name joins Old English dūn, “hill,” with late Old English holm (from Old Norse holmr), “island”—a hill-island site in a bend of the River Wear. Some bearers instead continue Derham, a separate English place-name that later converged in spelling. Emigrants carried Durham widely into colonial America. Place is the catalog type for the city origin, and that reading is high confidence.