Family name origins & meanings
- Southwestern English : variant of the habitational name Farnham, reflecting the voicing of f that was characteristic of southwestern dialects of Middle English.
- George Varnum emigrated in about 1635 from Lilbourne, Northamptonshire, England, to Ipswich, MA. The brothers James Mitchell Varnum (1748–89) and Joseph Bradley Varnum (1750/1–1821), both born in Dracut, MA, were revolutionary war soldiers and congressmen.