As a given name, Kam may be short for Kameron, which is a variant of Cameron, a given name which originated from a Scottish surname.
[6] The bearers of this surname in Korea identify with a number of bon-gwan (hometowns of a clan lineage), including Changwon, Masan, Geochang, Buryeong, Changnyeong, Chungju, and Happo, but all of these are branches of the Hoesan Gam (Kam) clan [ko], and claim common descent from Gam Gyu [ja], a Chinese civil official who came to Goryeo in the retinue of Princess Noguk for her marriage to King Gongmin.
[7][8] It was one of eighteen Korean clans founded by Yuan Dynasty officials who accompanied princesses to Korea.
[6] A study by the National Institute of the Korean Language based on 2007 application data for South Korean passports found that 70% of applicants with this family name spelled it in Latin letters as Kam in their passports, while 20% spelled it Gam.
[11] The 2010 United States Census found 3,749 people with the surname Kam, making it the 8,749th-most-common name in the country.