Beorma

Beorma (Old English pronunciation: [ˈbeːorˠmɑ]) is the putative eponym of the English city of Birmingham, known in the Old English period as *Beormingahām. Although the place name was recorded for the first time in the Domesday Survey of 1086, names of the -ingahām type have been dated much earlier, to the sixth and seventh centuries. They are composed of a tribal or familial name formed with the suffix -ingas (genitive -inga) and the word hām, meaning "homestead". In the case of Birmingham, the tribal name is *Beormingas, meaning "family or followers of *Beorma". The latter is a hypocoristic form of an Old English personal name such as Beornmǣr, Beor(n)mōd, or Beornmund. The same personal name is seemingly found in Burmington, the name of a village in southern Warwickshire.