Combe: Last Name and Heraldic Notes

Whether you spell it Combe or Combes, the story begins in the same place. Taken at its root, Combe points to “Small valleys”. Combe drops the “s” of Combes, a simplification that clerks often made. Local scribes, dialects and emigration all left their mark on how the name was written. Other spellings include Lacombe.

Combe ranked 30,825 in the 2010 US Census, with 755 people answering to the name. French birth records list 10,578 children named Combe between 1891 and 2000. Births ran at 693 in 1891–1900 and 807 in 1991–2000.

Arms linked to Combes and its spellings were granted to individual families; our heraldry team traces which line they belonged to. Want more than a summary? See the Combe family name pack.