Brown (surname)
Encyclopedia
Brown is a surname of English
and Scottish
origin. It also originates independently in the United States, as an Anglicization of several other surnames, such as the German Braun. Among the earliest recorded Browns is John Brown of Stamford, Lincolnshire
, England
in 1312. Brown is one of the most common family name
s in English
-speaking countries. It is the fourth most common surname in the United Kingdom
. According to the 1990 United States Census
, Brown is the fifth most common family name in the United States
at 0.621% of the sample population, essentially identical in frequency to Jones
.
concerning the complexion
of an individual, or the colour of their hair. This nickname is derived from the Old English brun, brūn; Middle English
brun, broun; or Old French
brun. The root word is also sometimes found in Old English and Old Norse bynames, such as the Old Norse Brúnn; however these names were not common after the Norman Conquest (in 1066). In some cases, the Old English personal name Brun may be a short form of one of several compound names, such as Brungar and Brunwine. Early recordings of the English name/surname are: Brun, Brunus in 1066; Conan filius Brun in 1209; Richard Brun, le Brun le mercer in 1111–38; William le Brun in 1169; William Brun 1182–1205; Hugh Bron in 1274; Agnes Broun in 1296; and John le Browne in 1318.
The Scottish surnames are not completely confined to the origin listed above. The name can also be derived from the Gaelic Donn, which means "brown". The Mac an Bhreithamhnaigh clan of Co. Donegal have anglicized as Brown or Browne
since about 1800.
In the United States, the surname has absorbed many other surnames with similar meanings.
The German cognates are associated with the much more common Continental personal name Bruno, which was borne by the Dukes of Saxony, among others, from the Tenth century or before. It was also the name of several medieval German and Italian saints, including the founder of the Carthusian Order (1030–1101), who was born in Cologne
.
Brown or Broun
uses the motto Floreat Majestas which translates as "Let majesty flourish".
, Broun
, Browne
, Dunn
, Van Bruaene
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
origin. It also originates independently in the United States, as an Anglicization of several other surnames, such as the German Braun. Among the earliest recorded Browns is John Brown of Stamford, Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in 1312. Brown is one of the most common family name
Family name
A family name is a type of surname and part of a person's name indicating the family to which the person belongs. The use of family names is widespread in cultures around the world...
s in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
-speaking countries. It is the fourth most common surname in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. According to the 1990 United States Census
United States Census, 1990
The Twenty-first United States Census, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States to be 248,709,873, an increase of 9.8 percent over the 226,545,805 persons enumerated during the 1980 Census....
, Brown is the fifth most common family name in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
at 0.621% of the sample population, essentially identical in frequency to Jones
Jones (surname)
Jones is a common Celtic Welsh surname based on the English version of the parent's name ending in -S. In 1881 people with this surname were largely confined to Wales. By 1998 many Welsh people had migrated to cities in England particularly those adjacent to Wales. The earliest record of the name...
.
Etymology and history of the surname
When the surname is of English or Scottish origins it is derived from a nicknameNickname
A nickname is "a usually familiar or humorous but sometimes pointed or cruel name given to a person or place, as a supposedly appropriate replacement for or addition to the proper name.", or a name similar in origin and pronunciation from the original name....
concerning the complexion
Complexion
Complexion refers to the natural color, texture, and appearance of the skin, especially that of the face.-History:The word "complexion" is derived from the Late Latin complexi, which initially referred in general terms to a combination of things, and later in physiological terms, to the balance of...
of an individual, or the colour of their hair. This nickname is derived from the Old English brun, brūn; Middle English
Middle English
Middle English is the stage in the history of the English language during the High and Late Middle Ages, or roughly during the four centuries between the late 11th and the late 15th century....
brun, broun; or Old French
Old French
Old French was the Romance dialect continuum spoken in territories that span roughly the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium and Switzerland from the 9th century to the 14th century...
brun. The root word is also sometimes found in Old English and Old Norse bynames, such as the Old Norse Brúnn; however these names were not common after the Norman Conquest (in 1066). In some cases, the Old English personal name Brun may be a short form of one of several compound names, such as Brungar and Brunwine. Early recordings of the English name/surname are: Brun, Brunus in 1066; Conan filius Brun in 1209; Richard Brun, le Brun le mercer in 1111–38; William le Brun in 1169; William Brun 1182–1205; Hugh Bron in 1274; Agnes Broun in 1296; and John le Browne in 1318.
The Scottish surnames are not completely confined to the origin listed above. The name can also be derived from the Gaelic Donn, which means "brown". The Mac an Bhreithamhnaigh clan of Co. Donegal have anglicized as Brown or Browne
Browne
Browne is a surname from the French le Brun which becomes de Brun in Gaelic in Ireland or a variant of the English surname Brown . The Mac an Bhreithamhnaigh clan of Co...
since about 1800.
In the United States, the surname has absorbed many other surnames with similar meanings.
The German cognates are associated with the much more common Continental personal name Bruno, which was borne by the Dukes of Saxony, among others, from the Tenth century or before. It was also the name of several medieval German and Italian saints, including the founder of the Carthusian Order (1030–1101), who was born in Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
.
Scottish Clan usage of the name
The Scottish ClanClan
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clan members may be organized around a founding member or apical ancestor. The kinship-based bonds may be symbolical, whereby the clan shares a "stipulated" common ancestor that is a...
Brown or Broun
Clan Broun
Clan Broun also known as Brown is a common Scottish clan name, it was located primarily in Lowland Scotland.-Origins of the Name:As well as the name being Scottish, Broun or Brown is also common name in Old English charters from an adjective meaning brown or dark red. It also occurs in Old High...
uses the motto Floreat Majestas which translates as "Let majesty flourish".
Other languages
- DutchDutch languageDutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
: Bruin - FrenchFrench languageFrench is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
: Le Brun, Le Brune, Le Brunne - GermanGerman languageGerman is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
: Braun - ItalianItalian languageItalian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
: Bruno, Bruni, Moro, Mori, Mora, Moretti - NorwegianNorwegian languageNorwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...
: Brun - PortuguesePortuguese languagePortuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
: Moreno - RussianRussian languageRussian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
: Brunetov (Бpyнeтов), Brunetev (Бpyнeтeв), Brown/Braun (Бpayн) - SpanishSpanish languageSpanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
: Castaño, Castaña, Moreno, Morreno, Morena, Morrena
Similar or related surnames
BraunBraun
Braun is a common surname, originating from the German word for the color brown. The name is the 22nd most common family name in Germany. Many German emigrants to the United States also changed their name to Brown ....
, Broun
Broun
Broun is a surname, and may refer to:* Agnes Broun, mother of the poet Robert Burns* Broun of Colstoun** Broun Baronets, a branch of the Broun of Colstoun family* Clan Broun, a Scottish Clan name* Dauvit Broun, a Scottish historian...
, Browne
Browne
Browne is a surname from the French le Brun which becomes de Brun in Gaelic in Ireland or a variant of the English surname Brown . The Mac an Bhreithamhnaigh clan of Co...
, Dunn
Dunn (surname)
Dunn is a surname in the English language. The name has several different origins. In some cases it is an Anglicised form of the Irish surname Ó Duinn, meaning "descendant of Donn"; the Gaelic Donn was originally a byname, meaning "brown-haired" or "chieftain"...
, Van Bruaene
See also
- List of people with surname Brown
- Brown (disambiguation)Brown (disambiguation)Brown is a color.Brown may also refer to:Biology:*Satyrinae, a subfamily of butterflies commonly called the browns*Elymniini, a large tribe of Satyrinae commonly called the true browns...
, other things named Brown