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Beck Name Meaning
English: topographic name for someone who lived beside a stream from northern Middle English bekke ‘stream’ (Old Norse bekkr). English (of Norman origin): habitational name from any of various places in northern France named Bec for example Bec Hellouin in Eure named with Old Norman French bec ‘stream’ from the same Old Norse root as in 1 above. English: from the Middle English personal name Becke (Old English Becca or Beocca) of uncertain origin. English: probably a nickname for someone with a prominent nose from Middle English bek bekke ‘beak (of a bird)’ (Old French bec). German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a baker a cognate of Becker from (older) South German beck West Yiddish bek ‘baker’. Some Jewish bearers of the name claim that it is an acronym of Hebrew ben-kedoshim ‘son of martyrs’ i.e. a name taken by one whose parents had been martyred for being Jews. The German surname is also found in France (mainly Alsace and Lorraine) Hungary Czechia Slovakia and Croatia. Compare Bek North German and Dutch: topographic name for someone who lived by a stream from Low German beke Dutch beck ‘stream’. Compare the High German form Bach 1 and Dutch Bek 6.7: Danish and Norwegian: habitational name from a farmstead named Bekk Bæk or Bäck from Old Norse bekkr ‘stream brook’ denoting a farm by a stream.8: Swedish: variant of Bäck (see Back ). This surname may also be of German origin (see above).9: Americanized or Germanized form of Polish Rusyn Czech Croatian or Slovenian Bek in the last two languages a cognate of the German name in 5 above.
Source:
Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022
Similar surnames:
Heck, Buck, Back, Bick, Peck, Berk, Eck, Rock, Boeck, Reck
From: https://www.ancestry.co.uk/learn/facts

Berry Name Meaning
Irish and Manx: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Béara ‘descendant of Béara’ a personal name of unexplained etymology; or in some cases perhaps an Anglicized form of Irish and Manx Ó Beargha. Compare Barry Scottish and northern Irish: variant of Barrie . English: habitational name from any of several places called in Devon named with Old English byrig dative case of burh ‘fortified manor house stronghold’ such as Berry Pomeroy and Berrynarbor. English: from Middle English (atte) beri ‘(at the) manor house’ denoting someone who lived and worked at such a place from Middle English beri biri buri (from the Old English dative case byrig of Old English burg ‘fort fortified manor house’). See also Atterbury . French: habitational name from Berry a former province of central France so named with Latin Biturica the land of the Bituriges a Gaulish tribe. Swiss German: from a pet form of an ancient Germanic personal name formed with Old High German bero ‘bear’ (see Baer ).7: Altered form of French Baril . Compare Barry 7.8: Altered form (loose translation into English) of French Canadian Laframboise ‘the raspberry’.
Source:
Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022
Similar surnames:
Merry, Terry, Ferry, Barry, Barr, Burry, Perry, Derry, Beery, Werry
From: https://www.ancestry.co.uk/learn/facts

Binns Name Meaning
English (Yorkshire): habitational name from a locality in the Morley Wapentake of Yorkshire perhaps Binns in South Owram or more likely High Binns in Oxenhope which is close to Haworth where the earliest evidence of the surname occurs. The placename is probably the plural form of Middle English binn ‘stall manger’ (compare Bines ). Altered form of German or Swiss German Bins or Binz or of some other similar (like-sounding) German surname.
Source:
Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022
Similar surnames:
Benns, Biss, Benn, Minns, Kinne, Ginn, Finn, Zins, Berns, Bivens
From: https://www.ancestry.co.uk/learn/facts

Birch Name Meaning
English German Danish and Swedish: topographic name for someone who lived by a birch tree or in a birch wood from an ancient Germanic word meaning ‘birch’ (Old English birce byrce ‘birch’ Middle High German birche Old Danish birk). In some cases the German and English name may be derived from any of the places called with this word such as Birch in Aargau (see Birke ) or Birch in Essex. In Swedish the name is in many instances ornamental.
Source:
Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022
Similar surnames:
Kirch, Bick, Beach, Kirsch, Burch, Winch, Busch, Hirsch, Horch, Barch
From: https://www.ancestry.co.uk/learn/facts

Bowhill Name Meaning
From one of several small places so named e.g. those in Selkirks or in Auchterderran (Fife). For the probable sense compare Bowden
Similar surnames:
Coghill, Cowgill, Bothell, Bowell, Broyhill, Polhill, Cohill, Tohill
Bowden Name Meaning
English: habitational name from any of several places called Bowden or Bowdon. Bowden in Devon and Derbyshire and Bowdon in Cheshire are named with Old English boga ‘bow’ + dūn ‘hill’ i.e. ‘hill shaped like a bow’; one in Leicestershire (Bugedone in Domesday Book) comes according to Ekwall from the Old English personal name Būga (masculine) or Bucge (feminine) + dūn. There are also Scottish places of this name but there are comparatively few bearers of the surname Bowden north of the border. In England the surname is found most frequently in Lancashire and in the West Country. In Devon and Cornwall there has been some confusion with the Norman personal name Baldwin . English: topographic name for someone who lived at the top of a hill from Middle English buve dun ‘above the hill’ (Old English būfan dūne as in the placename Bowden Wiltshire). Scottish: habitational name from Bowden in Roxburghshire named from Old English bōthl ‘dwelling-house’ + Old English denu ‘valley’. Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Buadáin ‘descendant of Buadán’ an Old Irish personal name of uncertain etymology. English: variant of Bawden
Source:
Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022
Similar surnames:
Howden, Cowden, Boden, Bogdan, Burden, Rowden, Bowes, Dowden, Borden
From: https://www.ancestry.co.uk/learn/facts

Bradley Name Meaning
English: habitational name from any of the many places throughout England named Bradley from Old English brād ‘broad’ + lēah ‘woodland clearing’. Scottish: habitational name from Braidlie in Roxburghshire. Irish (Ulster): adopted as an English equivalent of Gaelic Ó Brolcháin ‘descendant of Brolacháin’ a diminutive of the personal name Brólach compare Brawley . This was a learned family.
Source:
Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022
Similar surnames:
Badley, Bramley, Radley, Brailey, Bradney, Barley, Crawley, Bailey
From: https://www.ancestry.co.uk/learn/facts

Brash Name Meaning
Scottish: probably a nickname for an impetuous person from northern English dialect brasche ‘rash impetuous’ (associated with brasche ‘assault attack’ a word of imitative origin). Americanized form of German Braasch or Brasch . Americanized form of Polish Braś (see Bras ).
Source:
Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022
Similar surnames:
Rash, Brush, Brass, Bras, Bash, Brosh, Blash, Basa, Brack, Bratt
From: https://www.ancestry.co.uk/learn/facts

Bray Name Meaning
English: habitational name from any of the places in Berkshire and Devon. The former is probably named with Old French bray ‘marsh’ the latter from the Cornish element bre ‘hill’. English: perhaps a topographic name from northern Middle English bra ‘steep (river) bank’ or ‘brow of a hill’ denoting someone who lived at such a place. English (of Norman origin): habitational name from any of several places in Normandy or Picardy called Bray (Eure Calvados Aisne Somme); see 6. English: variant of Braye . Irish: from Ó Breaghdha denoting a descendant of a native of Bregia a territory in Meath. French: habitational name from (Le) Bray the name of several places in various parts of France named with Old French brai ‘mud mire’ (from Late Latin bracium a word of Gaulish origin). Compare Brais and Dubray .
Source:
Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022
Similar surnames:
Gray, Pray, Wray, Ray, Berry, Bay, Bras, Dray, Fray, Bry
From: https://www.ancestry.co.uk/learn/facts

Brooke Name Meaning
English: variant of Brook which preserves a trace of the Old English dative singular case originally used after a preposition (e.g. ‘at the brook’).
Source:
Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022
Similar surnames:
Brookes, Brook, Brooks, Rooke, Crooke, Broome, Brooker, Rook, Brock
From: https://www.ancestry.co.uk/learn/facts

Budd Name Meaning
English: from an Old English byname Budda which was applied to a thickset or plump person. Alternatively a nickname from Middle English budde ‘bud swelling’ with the same meaning as the Old English byname. German: variant of Budde and in North America possibly also an altered form of this. This surname is very rare in Germany.
Source:
Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022
Similar surnames:
Rudd, Budde, Mudd, Bird, Bald, Dodd, Buda, Kidd, Codd, Cudd
From: https://www.ancestry.co.uk/learn/facts https://www.ancestry.co.uk/learn/facts