POPHAM. " The first nobililating of the Pophams, as it is saide, was by Matilda Emperes, doughter to Henry the firste, and by Henry II., her suniie." Leland's Itinerary. The name is local, from Popham in Hampshire, where, as Mr. Shirley affirms, an ancestor, Gilbert de Popham, lived in the reign of King John ; and there the elder line continued till 17 Henry VI. The Somersetshire Pophams branched out of the Hampshire family, so early as temp. Edward I. The Wiltshire branch is much lower on the tree, having sprung from the parent stock temp. Elizabeth. Noble and Gentle Men of England, p. 206.

Lower, Mark A (1860) Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom. London: J.R. Smith. Public Domain.