Kam is a

given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a f ...

nickname A nickname, in some circumstances also known as a sobriquet, or informally a "moniker", is an informal substitute for the proper name of a person, place, or thing, used to express affection, playfulness, contempt, or a particular character trait ...

surname In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, although several give ...

Given name

As a given name, Kam may be short for Kameron, which is a variant of

Cameron Cameron may refer to: People * Clan Cameron, a Scottish clan * Cameron (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) * Cameron (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) ;Mononym * Cam'ron (born 19 ...

, a given name which originated from a Scottish surname. Another similar shortened form is

Cam Cam or CAM may refer to: Science and technology * Cam (mechanism), a mechanical linkage which translates motion * Camshaft, a shaft with a cam * Camera or webcam, a device that records images or video In computing * Computer-aided manufacturin ...

. People with the given name or nickname Kam include: * Kam Buckner (born 1985), American politician *

Kam Chancellor Kameron Darnel Chancellor (born April 3, 1988), nicknamed "Bam Bam Kam", is an American former professional football safety who spent his entire nine-year career with the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL). He played colleg ...

(born 1988), American National Football League player * Kam Fong Chun (1918–2002), American actor best known for playing Chin Ho in the original television series ''Hawaii Five-O'' * Kam Franklin (born 1987), American singer-songwriter *

Kam Ghaffarian Kamal "Kam" Ghaffarian () is an Iranian-born American businessman who focuses on the space industry and new energies and is known as the co-founder of IBX, Axiom Space, Intuitive Machines, X-energy and Quantum Space. Life and education Gha ...

, Iranian-born American space industry businessman * Kam Heskin (born 1973), American actress * Kam Jones (born 2002), American basketball player *

Kam Lee Barney Kamalani "Kam" Lee is an American death metal vocalist. He is best known for his vocal contributions to Death from 1983 to 1985, and joined Massacre in 1985. Career Lee was one of the founding members of Mantas (later renamed Death). He ...

(born 1966), American death metal musician * Kam McLeod (died 2019), Canadian fugitive * Kam Mickolio (born 1984), American baseball pitcher *

Kam Selem Kam Salem is a Nigerian former police officer and the second Inspector General of Nigerian Police, a post he held from 1966 to 1975 during the military rule of General Yakubu Gowon. At the time of the January 1966 coup led by Major Chukwuma Ka ...

, Inspector General of the Nigerian Police (1966–1975) * Kam Tang (), British illustrator * Kam Yuen (1941–2023), Chinese-born American martial arts expert

Surname

Origins

As a

Chinese surname Chinese surnames are used by Han Chinese and Sinicization, Sinicized ethnic groups in Greater China, Korea, Vietnam and among overseas Chinese communities around the world such as Singapore and Malaysia. Written Chinese names begin with surnames, ...

, Kam may be a spelling of the pronunciation in different

varieties of Chinese There are hundreds of local Chinese language varieties forming a branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages, Sino-Tibetan language family, many of which are not Mutual intelligibility, mutually intelligible. Variation is particularly strong in the m ...

of the following surnames, listed based on their

Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means 'Han Chinese, Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin' ...

spelling (which reflects the

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin ( ; zh, s=, t=, p=Guānhuà, l=Mandarin (bureaucrat), officials' speech) is the largest branch of the Sinitic languages. Mandarin varieties are spoken by 70 percent of all Chinese speakers over a large geographical area that stretch ...

pronunciation): * Gān ( zh, links=no, c=}), spelled Kam based on its

Cantonese Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While th ...

( zh, j=Gam1, cy=Gām; IPA: ),

Hakka The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka-speaking Chinese, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas, are a southern Han Chinese subgroup whose principal settlements and ancestral homes are dispersed widely across the provinces of southern China ...

( Hagfa Pinyim: ; IPA: ), and

Hokkien Hokkien ( , ) is a Varieties of Chinese, variety of the Southern Min group of Chinese language, Chinese languages. Native to and originating from the Minnan region in the southeastern part of Fujian in southeastern China, it is also referred ...

( zh, poj=Kam; IPA: ) pronunciations * Jīn ( zh, links=no, c=}), homophonous with the above surname in Cantonese, though not in other varieties of Chinese * Qín ( zh, links=no, c=}), spelled Kam based on its Cantonese pronunciation ( zh, j=Kam4, cy=Kàhm; IPA: ) The

Dutch surname Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

Kam originated in multiple ways. As an

occupational surname In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, although several give ...

, it came from both

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

meaning "comb" (referring

metonymically Metonymy () is a figure of speech in which a concept is referred to by the name of something associated with that thing or concept. For example, the word "suit" may refer to a person from groups commonly wearing business attire, such as salespe ...

comb A comb is a tool consisting of a shaft that holds a row of teeth for pulling through the hair to clean, untangle, or style it. Combs have been used since prehistoric times, having been discovered in very refined forms from settlements dating ba ...

makers, wool combers, or fullers), or from

Middle Dutch Middle Dutch is a collective name for a number of closely related West Germanic dialects whose ancestor was Old Dutch. It was spoken and written between 1150 and 1500. Until the advent of Modern Dutch after 1500 or , there was no overarching sta ...

meaning "brewery". As a

toponymic surname A toponymic surname or habitational surname or byname is a surname or byname derived from a place name,

, it is a reduced form of Van Kam, referring to Chaam (formerly spelled Kam) in

North Brabant North Brabant ( ; ), also unofficially called Brabant, Dutch Brabant or Hollandic Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to ...

, near

Breda Breda ( , , , ) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands, located in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant. ...

. The

Jewish surname Jewish surnames are family names used by Jews and those of Jewish origin. Jewish surnames are thought to be of comparatively recent origin; the first known Jewish family names date to the Middle Ages, in the 10th and 11th centuries. Jews have ...

Kam (

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

and ), also spelled Kamm, originated from various German words, including

Middle High German Middle High German (MHG; or ; , shortened as ''Mhdt.'' or ''Mhd.'') is the term for the form of High German, High German language, German spoken in the High Middle Ages. It is conventionally dated between 1050 and 1350, developing from Old High ...

"mould" or "comb". As a

Korean surname This is a list of Korean surnames, in Hangul alphabetical order. The most common Korean surname (particularly in South Korea) is Kim (Korean name), Kim (), followed by Lee (Korean name), Lee () and Park (Korean surname), Park (). These three sur ...

, Kam is the

McCune–Reischauer McCune–Reischauer romanization ( ) is a romanization system for the Korean language. It was first published in 1939 by George M. McCune and Edwin O. Reischauer. According to Reischauer, McCune "persuaded the American Army Map Service to ad ...

and

Yale Romanization The Yale romanizations are four romanization systems created at Yale University for the following four East Asian languages: * Yale romanization of Mandarin * Yale romanization of Cantonese The Yale romanization of Cantonese was developed by ...

spelling of the surname transcribed in the

Revised Romanization of Korean Revised Romanization of Korean () is the official Romanization of Korean, Korean language romanization system in South Korea. It was developed by the National Institute of Korean Language, National Academy of the Korean Language from 1995 and w ...

as Gam (); it is written using the same character as for the Chinese surname Gān mentioned above. The bearers of this surname in

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

identify with a number of ''

bon-gwan Korean clans are groups of Koreans, Korean people that share the same Patrilineality, paternal ancestor. They are indicated by the combination of a ''bongwan'' () and a family name. Korean clans distinguish clans that happen to share the same fam ...

'' (hometowns of a clan lineage), including Changwon, Masan, Geochang, Buryeong, Changnyeong, Chungju, and Happo, but all of these are branches of the , and claim common descent from , a Chinese civil official who came to

Goryeo Goryeo (; ) was a Korean state founded in 918, during a time of national division called the Later Three Kingdoms period, that unified and ruled the Korea, Korean Peninsula until the establishment of Joseon in 1392. Goryeo achieved what has b ...

in the retinue of

Princess Noguk Princess Supreme Noguk (; d. 8 March 1365), also known as Queen Indeok () and Queen Mother Indeok () during her stepson, King U of Goryeo's reign. She was a Yuan dynasty imperial family member as the great-granddaughter of Darmabala, and a ni ...

for her marriage to

King Gongmin Gongmin (; 23 May 1330 – 27 October 1374), also known by his Mongolian name, Bayan Temür, was 31st ruler of Goryeo from 1351 to 1374. He was the second son of King Chungsuk. Biography Early life Goryeo had been a semi-autonomous vassal s ...

. It was one of eighteen Korean clans founded by

Yuan Dynasty The Yuan dynasty ( ; zh, c=元朝, p=Yuáncháo), officially the Great Yuan (; Mongolian language, Mongolian: , , literally 'Great Yuan State'), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after Div ...

officials who accompanied princesses to Korea.

Statistics

In the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, there were 157 people with the surname Kam as of 2007, up from 38 in 1947. The 2000 South Korean census found 5,998 people in 1,910 households with the surname. A study by the

National Institute of the Korean Language The National Institute of Korean Language (NIKL; ) is a language regulator of the Korean language based in Seoul, South Korea. It was created on January 23, 1991, by Presidential Decree No. 13163 (November 14, 1990). It has previously gone by a ...

based on 2007 application data for South Korean passports found that 70% of applicants with this family name spelled it in Latin letters as Kam in their passports, while 20% spelled it Gam. Rarer alternative spellings included Kahm. The 2010 United States Census found 3,749 people with the surname Kam, making it the 8,749th-most-common name in the country. This represented an increase from 3,358 (8,954th-most-common) in the 2000 Census. In both censuses, slightly more than 70% of the bearers of the surname identified as Asian, and about 15% as

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

. It was the 404th-most-common surname among respondents to the 2000 Census who identified as Asian.

People with the surname

Surname : * Alex Kam (; born 1995), South Korean figure skater * Genervie Kam (; born 1980), Malaysian classical musician * Kam Nai-wai (; born 1960), Hong Kong politician *

Kam Ning Kam Ning () is a violinist and daughter of the violinist-composer Kam Kee Yong (甘琦勇), and grandchild of Kam Beng Soo and Ooi Kooi Aun. Born in Singapore in 1975, she was given violin lessons at the age of six by the elder Kam, and had her ...

(; ), Singaporean violinist * Richard Kam (; born 1996), South Korean ice dancer, younger brother of Alex * Kam Wai Leung (born 1950), Hong Kong fencer *

Kam Woo-sung Kam Woo-sung (born October 1, 1970) is a South Korean actor. He is best known for his portrayal of a court jester serving a despotic king in the hit period film '' The King and the Clown''. Career Kam Woo-sung majored in Oriental painting at th ...

(; born 1970), South Korean actor Surname : * Andrew Kam (; ), Hong Kong theme park executive * Elaine Kam (; born 1954), Taiwan-born Hong Kong actress * Peter Kam (; born 1961), Hong Kong film music composer Other: *

Anat Kam Anat (, ), Anatu, classically Anath (; ''ʿnt''; ''ʿĂnāṯ''; ; ; Egyptian: '' ꜥntjt'') was a goddess associated with warfare and hunting, best known from the Ugaritic texts. Most researchers assume that she originated in the Amorite ...

or Kamm, (born 1987), Israeli journalist * Isca Kam (born 1980), Nauruan weightlifter * Joseph Kam (1769–1833), Dutch missionary in Indonesia * Kampton Kam (born 2001), Singaporean high jumper *

Lyn-Wannan Kam Lyn-Wannan Tawaki Kam is a Nauruan politician, and former sports figure. Parliamentary role He stood unsuccessfully for the 2010 general elections,

(), Nauruan politician *

Moshe Kam Moshe Kam (; born October 3, 1955) is an Israeli-American electrical engineer. He is an engineering educator serving as Distinguished Professor and Dean of the Newark College of Engineering at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. Until August ...

(born 1955), Israeli electrical engineer and academic * Roray Kam (born 1961), American surfer * Sharon Kam (born 1971), Israeli classical clarinetist * Sophie Heidi Kam (born 1969), Burkinabe writer *

Søren Kam Søren Kam (2 November 1921 – 23 March 2015) was a Danish junior officer in the Waffen-SS of Nazi Germany during World War II. He was wanted for murder in Denmark and listed by the Simon Wiesenthal Center as one of the most wanted Nazi war cri ...

(1921–2015), Danish World War II Waffen-SS officer and wanted Nazi war criminal

References