Someone identified as "r. friedolin" posted the following message at Ancestry.com

The origin of the surname (Leichnam) has nothing to do with the German meaning "corpse, remains". It goes back to the Sorbish word LICHOM, also LICHAN, meaning "free man" or "clearing in the woods". The Sorbs were a Slavonic ethnic group that settled in Saxony and neighbouring parts of Prussia. There actually was a village named Leichnam in the Lausitz region, whose name was changed to Spreewiese in 1910 - for obvious reasons! I'm trying to track the origin of my ancestor by the name of Margarete (Margaretha) Leichnam of Trausnitz in Bavaria (ca. 1850). Anything you can contribute would be most welcome. http://boards.ancestry.com/localities.eeurope.romania.general/421.492.519.525.1/mb.ashx

Note by Reikr: The term "Heilige Leichnam" sometimes refers to the "Body of Christ" (Corpus Christi), as represented by the Communion wafer. There is, for example, a "Heilige Leichnam Church," in northeastern Germany.