# Latham (surname)

Latham (pronounced 'lay-thm') is an Old Scandinavian surname.

## Origins and variants

The surname may derive from a place called "Latham". The word is related to a "(place of or by) the barns", related to the Old Norse hlatha, barn. Lathom in Lancashire is recorded as "Latune" in the Domesday Book of 1086 which is related to the region of Latium, and in the 1201 Pipe Rolls of the county as "Lathum". "Laytham" in East Yorkshire appears as "Ladone" in the Domesday Book. Locational surnames were usually acquired by those former inhabitants of a place who moved to another area, and were thereafter best identified by the name of their birthplace. The modern surname can found as "Latham", "Lathom", "Laytham", "Leatham", "Lathem", "Latam", "Leedham", "Lazom", and "Lazem". The first recorded spelling of the surname is shown to be that of Robert de Latham (witness), which was dated 1204, in the "Yorkshire Assize Court Rolls", during the reign of King John, known as "Lackland", 1199–1216.

## People with the surname

* Aaron Latham (1943-2022), American journalist
* Alexis Latham (born 1965), British actor
* Arlie Latham (1860–1952), American baseball player
* Arthur Latham (footballer) (1863–1928), British footballer
* Arthur Latham (1930–2016), British politician
* Baldwin Latham (1836–1917), British civil engineer; son of George Latham (architect)
* Cassandra Latham, British witch
* Charles Latham (1816–1907), English physician and surgeon
* Charles Latham (photographer) (1847–1912)
* Charles Latham (1882–1968), Australian politician
* Charles Latham, 1st Baron Latham (1888–1970), British politician
* Chris Latham (baseball) (born 1973), American baseball player
* Chris Latham (rugby union) (born 1975), Australian rugby union player
* Christine Latham (born 1981), Canadian soccer player
* Sir David Latham (born 1942), British judge
* Earle O. Latham (1908–1999), First Vice President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and U.S. State Department special emissary to Ethiopia to establish the National Bank of Ethiopia
* George Latham (architect), (died 1871), British architect
* George William Latham (1827–1886), English landowner, barrister and Liberal politician
* Helen Latham (born 1976), British actress
* Hubert Latham (1883–1912), French aviator
* James Latham (criminal) (1942–1965), American serial killer
* James Latham (painter) (c. 1696 – 1747), Irish painter
* JC Latham (born 2003), American football player
* Jean Lee Latham (1902–1995), American writer
* Dennis Latham (born 1983), Rock Star
* John Latham (1761–1843) English physician, President of the Royal College of Physicians
* John Latham (1787–1853), English poet
* John Latham (artist) (1921–2006), British conceptual artist
* John Latham (judge) (1877–1964), Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia
* John Latham (ornithologist) (1740–1837), British ornithologist
* Larry Latham (1952–2003), American wrestler
* Laurie Latham (born 1955), British record producer
* Lonnie Latham (born 1946), American Baptist pastor
* Mark Latham (born 1961), former Australian Labor politician
* Michael Latham (1942–2017), British politician
* Mike Latham (born 1939), former English cricketer
* Milton Latham (1827–1882), US Senator and Governor of California
* Peter Latham (tennis) (1865–1953), British racquets and real tennis player
* Peter Wallwork Latham (1832–1923), English physician and professor of medicine
* Philip Latham (1929–2020), British actor
* Philip Latham, pen name of Robert S. Richardson (1902–1981), American astronomer
* Richard Latham (1908–1953), Brazilian cricketer
* Robert Latham (editor) (1912–1995), co-editor of the diary of Samuel Pepys
* Robert Gordon Latham (1812–1888), British ethnologist
* Rod Latham (born 1961), New Zealand cricketer
* Simon Latham (fl. 1618), English writer on falconry
* Thomas Latham (cricketer) (1847–1926), English barrister and cricketer
* Thomas J. Latham (1831–1911), American lawyer and businessman
* Tom Latham (cricketer) (born 1992), New Zealand cricketer
* Tom Latham (politician) (born 1948), American politician
* Vida Latham (1866–1958), British-American physician
* William Latham (computer scientist) (born 1961), British computer artist
* William P. Latham (1917–2004), American composer
* Woodville Latham (1837–1911), American inventor