The surname GORHAM is English
(Kent). It apparently is a habitational name from a lost or unidentified place, possibly so named from OE gara ‘triangular
piece of land + ham ‘homestead.
The surname PALFREY is English (chiefly
Devon). It is a metonymic occupational name for a man responsible for the maintenance and provision of saddle-horses, from
Middle English Palfrey ‘saddle-horse’ (Old French Palefrei).
The surname SIMMONS is English (southern).
It is a patronymic name either from the personal name Simon or, as it has been suggested, from the medieval personal name
Simund (composed of Old Norse sig ‘victory’ + Mundr ‘protection’, which after the Norman Conquest
was taken as an equivalent Simon with the result that the two names became confused.
