As I was driving back from San Raphael late this morning I drove past the Bellam Ave exit which was just after the split on 101 for those heading to Sir Francis Drake Blvd. Now, I think that most of us in North American have a clue as to the identity of Sir Francis Drake. If not,, well I will point you toward the fairly objective Wiki article which can be found here. Explorer, privateer, English? All make sense in having his name show up on a road, even one not laid for hundreds of years later, much less in the San Francisco Bay area. OTOH – if he, as it it rumored, made it as far north along the North American West Coast as what is now Oregon, then he probably at least sailed by the bay.
Bellam, on the other hand….. I can’t find anything relating the origin of the name. References to businesses along the road, past notices of road construction – but nothing about the reason behind the name itself. Historically – I found as many claims that the name is French in origin as Italian in origin. According to the “House of Names” it is derived from a family that relocated to an area of England around 1066. It cites a couple of theories on origin of the name. Which doesn’t match what is located in “Names Census” which gives the frequency of a family name. You can also plug in your own name and see if it matches what you know about your family. Personally, since I have no English ancestry what so ever, I know that a name change occurred at Ellis Island around 1900 give or take a few years.
Back to Bellam – according to (Name Discoveries) the name is of Italizn origin and means beautiful (bella/bellus). This particular sites information also doesn’t match the census data of the previous site. FYI.
But probably the best information comes from the last name database on Bellam. This database concurs with the previously mentioned House of Names. Frankly, I can agree with an English origin given the other English/British names used in the area.
And at this point I think I am done with this particular rabbit hole and headed back to watching the US vs Australia football (soccer to you US only people) game…..
