Families have played a big part of banking and finance for centuries - the names of Baring, Rothschild, Pictet, Oppenheim, Fleming and Cazenove among some of them. And recent events reminded the financial industry of how far the name “Hambro” has spread despite wars, revolutions and market crashes.

As the examples show, however, the sheer profusion of firms bearing a Hambro tag can be confusing.

This week, Andy Steel, one of the partners of James Hambro & Partners, says the name of his firm - using "James" rather than a "JO" in its moniker - is sufficiently different to not confuse people. "Most people in the industry do understand the difference. There will be some people not working in the industry regularly who might find this confusing," he told WealthBriefing. Steel is upbeat: "We have been hiring fairly extensively and looking for new partners to join the firm; we expect this to continue, even to accelerate."

The Hambro name does not stop here. There is JO Hambro Investment Management, a separate business that was founded by family member Richard Hambro, along with David Chaplin and Lord Balniel, in the mid-1980s and sold to Credit Suisse in 2000 and run as an autonomous business. 

Interestingly, Steel said that there will be some overlap in the clients targeted by James Hambro & Partners and JOHIM. "The firms may appear slightly different but there will be some cross-over," he said.

The Hambro name endures also via Société Générale: the UK-based private banking arm of the French bank is called Société Générale Private Banking Hambros, stemming from when Hambros Bank, founded in 1839, was purchased in February 1998 by the Paris-listed banking giant.

Other parts of the Hambros empire have been snaffled up by banking groups in the past two decades. For example, Investec, the UK/South Africa-listed banking group, acquired Guinness Mahon Holdings in a deal that included 42 per cent of the Guinness Flight Hambro Asset Management business.

Peter Hambro Mining, which was one of the largest firms listed on the Alternative Investment Market Exchange, changed its name to Petropavlovsk in 2009 to better reflect its Russian focus. The old European name may have been switched for a Russian one, but with the gold price breaking above a record $1,600 per ounce in recent days, yet another part of the Hambro dynasty can feel cause for optimism.

One way or another, the name "Hambro" is likely to feature in UK and international life for quite some time to come.