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Cam 1

Name

Summary

The name Cam seems to occur only in three entries in Exon where it is used as the patronymic for Beorhtric and Beorhtwig 10.

Profile

The name Cam seems to occur only in three entries in Exon where it is used as the patronymic for Beorhtric and Beorhtwig 10. In one entry it occurs in the Latin form filius cāmi but in the other two in the Old English form camesone, so although the name is probably derived from Old Cornish cam ‘crooked, bent’ it may represent a byname adopted into Old English. The apparent uniqueness of the name Cam, together with the fact that the two men who have it as their patronymic also share the OE element beorht- in their own names (often a feature of familial naming patterns), renders it almost certain that all the references are to the same person, Cam 1.

That having been said, we cannot assume that Cam ever held any of the lands held by his sons TRE. Not only does the small estate of Beorhtwig (assessed for 1 virgate but with land for 4 ploughs) lie 38 miles to the south of those held by his brother, which seems too far removed for them to have formed part of the same holding, but it also appears from DB that Beorhtric had acquired one of his estates only shortly before the Conquest and may have had other Devonshire estates. All we can really say about Cam, therefore, is that his sons must have been born before c.1050 and thus that this represents his floreat.