Origin of the Name Beaman
The origin of the name
Beaman was found in the allfamilycrests.com archives.
Over the centuries Surnames developed a wide number of variants. Different spellings of the same name can be traced back to an original root. Additionally when a bearer of a name emigrated it was not uncommon that their original name would be incorrectly transcribed in the record books at their new location. Surnames were also often altered over the years based on how they sounded phonetically and depending on the prevailing political conditions it may have been advantageous to change a name from one language to another.
Variants of the name Beaman include Beeman, Beaumont, Belmont, Bowman, Bemand, Bemans, Beumant and many others. this name is usually of Anglo-Norman origin and is derived from several places in France with the name being composed of the elements 'beau' meaning lovely and 'mont' meaning a hill. After the eleventh century Norman invasion several places called Beaumont and its variants came into existence in Cumberland, Lancashire and Essex. Beaman can also be of occupational origin describing a person who kept bees. A very early bearer of the name was Robert de Beaumont (1040-1118) who fought alongside William The Conqueror during the conquest of England. A Rogerius de Belmont was recorded in the Domesday Book of Dorset in the year 1086.
Names were recorded in these ancient documents to make it easier for their overlords to collect taxes and to keep records of the population at any given time. When the overlords acquired land by either force or gifts from their rulers, they created charters of ownership for themselves and their vassals. It was by creating, maintaining and updating these reference books that they were able to maintain their authority and enforce laws.
In Ireland this name and its variants were introduced into Ulster Province by settlers who arrived from England and Scotland, especially during the seventeenth century. It was the 'Plantations of Ireland' in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries that marked the end of Gaelic supremacy in Ireland. While the influx of settlers in the wake of the earlier Anglo-Norman invasion of the twelfth century resulted in a full integration into Irish society of the new arrivals, the same never occurred with the Ulster Planters who maintained their own distinct identity.
The variant form of the name Bowman is also found in Limerick.
The Beaman coat of arms came into existence centuries ago. The process of creating coats of arms (also often called family crests) began in the eleventh century although a form of Proto-Heraldry may have existed in some countries prior to this. The new art of Heraldry made it possible for families and even individual family members to have their very own coat of arms, including all Beaman descendants.