The surname of BRADBURN was a locational name 'of Bradbourne' a spot in County Derbyshire. The name literally meant the dweller by the wide stream. Local names usually denoted where a man held his land, and indicated where he actually lived. Early records of the name mention BRADBORN (without surname) who was documented in the year 1185 in County Derbyshire, and Edwin Bradborne of Yorkshire, was recorded during the reign of Edward III (1327-1377). William Bradbourne of Yorkshire, was listed in the Yorkshire Poll Tax of 1379. Prior to the Invasion of William the Conqueror in 1066, no one had surnames, only christian or nicknames in England. Based on this, and our physical attributes, we were given surnames incorporating tax codes to show trades, areas in which we lived, as today we have street names and numbers. Surnames were used in France and like speaking countries from about the year 1000, and a few places had second names even earlier. Even early monarchs had additions to show attributes and character, for example Ethelred (red-hair) the Unready (never prepared). Edward I was named 'Long shanks' because of his long legs, and Richard III was called 'Crouchback' owing to his deformed shoulder. Many factors contributed to the establishment of a surname system. For generations after the Norman Conquest of 1066 a very few dynasts and magnates passed on hereditary surnames, but the main of the population, with a wide choice of first-names out of Celtic, Old English, Norman and Latin, avoided ambiguity without the need for a second name. As society became more stabilized, there was property to leave in wills, the towns and villages grew and the labels that had served to distinguish a handful of folk in a friendly village were not adequate for a teeming slum where perhaps most of the householders were engaged in the same monotonous trade, so not even their occupations could distinguish them, and some first names were gaining a tiresome popularity, especially Thomas after 1170. The hereditary principle in surnames gained currency first in the South, and the poorer folk were slower to apply it. By the 14th century however, most of the population had acquired a second name. Other records of the name mention Richard Bradborne, documented in Derbyshire in 1540. John Cotton and Elizabeth Bradborne were married in London in the year 1573. |
