Where the Brown name comes from

Brown began as a nickname rather than a trade or a place, describing somebody's hair, their complexion or what they wore. The root is the Old English brun, and it arrives a second time from the other direction as the Old French brun after 1066. It was first recorded in East Lothian, in Lowland Scotland, and the early entries read like the language moving underneath the name: Brun in 1066, William le Brun in 1169, Agnes Broun in 1296, John le Browne in 1318.

Not every Brown got here the same way. Some were a German Braun until the spelling changed on arrival in America, and some are a straight translation of the Gaelic Donn, which also means brown.