"The English surname Oldham is of local origin, being one of those surnames derived from the place where a man once lived or where he once held land. Variants are Oldham, Oldam, Olham, Odom, Odum, Oldum, Owldam, Aldeham, and there may be others.

In this instance, Oldham can be traced to a place so called which is located in Lancashire. This is derived from the Middle English "ald", meaning "old", and "holm", meaning "island, dry land in a fen, promontory". Thus, this surname may also signify "one who lived by or near the old, long, cultivated river flat".

The earliest written reference to this surname and its variant of Oldam dates back to the thirteenth century. Achard de Aldeham is registered in the Feet of Fines of Kent in 1218 and Richard de Oldham appears in the Inquisitions post mortem of Lancashire in 1348.

Robert Oldum is recorded in the Close Rolls of London in 1470. Ralph Oldham is listed in the Coroners' Rolls of Nottinghamshire in 1508, while one John Owldam is recorded in the Subsidy Rolls of Derbyshire in 1599. John Oldham, from Nottinghamshire, was registered as a student at Oxford University in 1610. There is also a record of the marriage of Charles Oldham to Margaret Cohn which took place in St. George's Chapel, Mayfair, in 1746.

Notable bearers of the surname include John Oldham (1600-1636), who was an early colonist of New England, John Oldham (1653-1683), a satiric poet who published "Satires upon the Jesuits" in 1679, and Hugh Oldham, who died in 1519. He was the founder of the grammar school in Oldham, Lancashire, and a benefactor of Corpus College, Oxford."

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