 Ockham was born, probably in late 1287 or early 1288, in the village of Ockham (= Oak Hamlet) in Surrey, a little to the southwest of  London.[2]  He probably learned basic Latin at a village school in Ockham or nearby, but this is not  certain.[3]  At an early age, somewhere between seven and thirteen, Ockham was “given” to the Franciscan order (the so called  “Greyfriars”).[4]  There was no Franciscan house (called a “convent”) in the tiny village of Ockham itself; the nearest one was in London, a day’s ride to the northeast. It was there that Ockham was sent.