HIGGINBOTHAM

English (Lancashire and Yorkshire): habitational name from a place in Lancashire now known as Oakenbottom. The history of the place name is somewhat confused, but it is probably composed of the Old English elements ǣcen or ācen ‘oaken’ + botme ‘broad valley’. During the Middle Ages this name became successively Eakenbottom and Ickenbottom, the first element becoming associated with the dialect word hicken or higgen ‘mountain ash’ or the personal name Higgin.