Botham

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A surname borne by a well-known English cricket all-rounder who was celebrated for his batting and bowling in the 1970s and 1980s
2. A family name most famously associated with an English cricketer who excelled as both a batsman and a bowler during his career
3. A proper noun used as a surname, best known as the name of a celebrated English cricket player and all-round sportsman

Etymology: Botham is an English surname, and the source records it simply as a variant of "Bottom." That makes it a family name that carries an older word for a valley floor or the lowest part of something, the same root that gives the everyday English "bottom." Surnames of this kind usually began as descriptions of where a family lived, so an early bearer of the name was probably someone who settled in a low hollow of land. The spelling difference is the main story here. Over centuries, English spellings and dialect pronunciations shifted, and a family could end up writing its name with a slightly different vowel or ending than its neighbours, while the name stayed recognisably the same. Botham is one such surviving form, kept alive chiefly as a surname rather than as a common noun.