Frequency: (1087)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
1. English and Scottish: occupational name for a seller of spices and perfumes, from an agent derivative of Middle English, Old French basme, balme, ba(u)me ‘balm’, ‘ointment’ (Latin balsamum ‘aromatic resin’).
2. South German and Swiss German: habitational name from any of the places in Switzerland and Baden called Balm, which almost certainly get their names from a Celtic word meaning ‘cave’.
3. German: from the Germanic personal name Baldemar, composed of the elements bald ‘bold’ + mar ‘famous’.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
