McCoombes meaning | Last name McCoombes origin

Derivation of Combe. Valley, sharp ridge; mass of water.

Is an adaptation of the Combs. Dweller at the deep hollow or valley.

McCoombes is variant of the Coombs. One who came from Coombes meaning "valleys," in Sussex.

An adaptation of the Combe. From Anglo-Saxon comb, Celtic cenm, a hollow in a hill, a valley. In medieval writings, At- Comb, At-Cumb, etc. There are places called Comb or Combe in Sussex, Devon, Somerset, &c. Combs in Suffolk-Coombe in Wilts, Dorset, and Hants,—and Coombs in Sussex, Derby, and Dorset. Several of these have conferred their names on families.

Professor Leo asserts that cumb means a mass of water-it originally signified a trough or bowl, and subsequently, not a valley—as Bosworth wrongly asserts—but an extensive though running sheet of water. The Professor's ground for this statement appears to be the occurrence of a heafod and an ævylm,-a head and a spring—in connection with acumb; but surely this is very slender evidence for so sweeping an assertion upper end of a valley is called its head, and that there should be a spring in a valley is nothing extraordinary. But some scholar maintain, therefore, with Dr. Bosworth, that COMBE is a valley, either with or without water. In fact, the South Downs are full of these depressions, which, from their geological position, can no more 'hold water' than can this notion of the learned philologist of Halle.

McCoombes is the variant of Coumbe. See Combe - From Anglo-Saxon comb, Celtic cenm, a hollow in a hill, a valley. In medieval writings, At- Comb, At-Cumb, etc. There are places called Comb or Combe in Sussex, Devon, Somerset, &c. Combs in Suffolk-Coombe in Wilts, Dorset, and Hants,—and Coombs in Sussex, Derby, and Dorset. Several of these have conferred their names on families.

Professor Leo asserts that cumb means a mass of water-it originally signified a trough or bowl, and subsequently, not a valley—as Bosworth wrongly asserts—but an extensive though running sheet of water. The Professor's ground for this statement appears to be the occurrence of a heafod and an ævylm,-a head and a spring—in connection with acumb; but surely this is very slender evidence for so sweeping an assertion upper end of a valley is called its head, and that there should be a spring in a valley is nothing extraordinary. But some scholar maintain, therefore, with Dr. Bosworth, that COMBE is a valley, either with or without water. In fact, the South Downs are full of these depressions, which, from their geological position, can no more 'hold water' than can this notion of the learned philologist of Halle.