Lathan

Lathan is the transferred use of a pretty uncommon English surname. As a forename, Lathan is basically an American invention – it follows the hyper-popular trend of using surnames as first names. Lathan is a surname derived from a place name, most likely the village of Lathom in the northwest country of Lancashire in England (first recorded as Latune in the 11th century). The hamlet’s name was derived from an Old Norse word for “barn” (hlaetha). When surnames were developed in Britain during the Middle Ages, people were assigned last names derived from either their father’s name (Williamson), their occupation or trade (Cooper), a nickname (Corbin) or the town from which they hailed (Lathom). Due to the high rate of illiteracy in medieval England, coupled by the radically different dialects spoken from region to region, the sounds and spellings of names evolved significantly over time. The spelling of Lathan appeared in the 16th century; not surprisingly, near the town of Lathom. It’s hard to believe Hleatha became Latune which morphed into Lathom as well as Lathan. But this is exactly how names evolved over time from Olde English to Middle English and finally into modern English.