Bragg
Usually a nickname surname for a boastful or spirited person.
The #1,643 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 14,076 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Bragg is generally explained from a nickname meaning ‘boastful,’ ‘brisk,’ or ‘full of spirit.’ The word is linked to Old English and northern forms such as brag and to the Old Norse name Bragi, which is associated with poetry and eloquence. In surname use, it likely began as a descriptive byname for someone considered bold, lively, or a boaster.
History
19th-century surname writers treated Bragg as an old English family name and usually connected it with the adjective brag or with the Norse Bragi. The name is well established in England and later appears in North America, where it is borne by several notable families and public figures. Some older references also group it with other nickname-based surnames.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One 19th-century source glossed the related word as both ‘a braggart’ and ‘brisk, full of spirit,’ showing how the name could be read in either a negative or lively sense.
From the historical record
“another ancient family. Lysons. BRAGG. BRAGGER. Skelton uses irag in the sense of proud, insolent; it also signifies brisk, full of spirits. Halliw. Tlie Scandinavian Apollo was so called. BRAHAM. Among the Jews, a modified form of Abraham. BRAID. The northern form of Broad. BRAIDWOOD. A village in Lanark-”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom