Bradbury
A locational surname meaning “from the place called Bredbury/Bradbury,” originally referring to a township near Stockport in Cheshire.
The #4,343 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 37,781 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Bradbury is a habitational surname taken from the English place-name Bredbury in Cheshire, recorded in medieval spellings such as Bredbury and later often standardized as Bradbury. The first element is usually taken from Old English brād, meaning “broad,” and the second from burh/burg, meaning “fortified place,” “borough,” or “manor.” In effect, the place-name meant something like “broad fortification” or “broad settlement.”
History
The name is strongly associated with Cheshire in the historical records cited by the older surname dictionaries, though later bearers spread widely across England and beyond. Bardsley notes that the surname became almost universally spelled Bradbury in modern times, even when older records show Bredbury. The form also appears in North American surname lists and other English-speaking regions through migration.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older records show the place-name with a different vowel, so the surname’s modern spelling can obscure its older Cheshire form.
From the historical record
“brook.' BRADBURY. A township in Durham. BRADDON. Braddeu, co. Nortbampt. in which co. the family were originally seated. BRADEIf. Bradon, a parish in co. So- merset. BRADFIELD. Parishes, S:c., in cos. Berks, Essex. Norfolk, York, and Suffolk.”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom