Broughton (name)

Broughton (pronounced Brottun) (or, alternatively and largely in New England, Broton) has two claimed origins as a name.

According to M. Leon Broughton, author of "Broughton Memoirs" (Copyright 1962, Second Edition):

"The name Broughton is often derived from the Saxon “Broc”, which means brook or broken land; and “Tun”, the dwelling or town. In King Ethelred’s charter to the monastery of Shaftesbury, England, 1001 AD, Elfwig’s boundaries at Broctun are mentioned. The Domesday Book of William the Conqueror, 1086 AD, describes thirty-four manors of Broctun, variously Latinized by the clerks of the records to: Brochthon, Brocton, Brotton, Broton, Brogton, and Broughton, perhaps according to the pronunciation peculiar to the localities where the manors where situated.

Later the spelling of Broughton seems to have generally been adopted. There are about twenty distinct parishes besides hamlets and different localities in England that bear the name; and it is locally applied to a small parish in Canada, to an island in the Alatamaha river in Georgia, and also occurs in the states of South Carolina, Texas, and some of the New England states. The Broughtons are now widespread throughout the United States, and the world."

Broughton may also come from an Old English word meaning 'stronghold'. It is also likely to be derived from “berg” (a hill), and “ton” (a town), both Saxon words.

This is the case in Lincolnshire, England. At this Broughton, the mound is near the west end of the village and may have been the site of a Roman station Pretorium from about 400 AD. Many Roman coins, bricks, tiles and other artifacts have been found in the area. In the Domesday Book of 1086, the name appears as Bertone. ["A Dictionary of English Place-Names," A. D. Mills, Oxford University Press, 1991]

Broughton as a surname

People

Broughton is the surname (or family name) of many notable people:

Peerage

It is also used as part of the title of some British Peers and baronets.

Origins

The surname Broughton is often associated with the landed gentry of those Broughtons in Cheshire and Buckinghamshire.

From the book, Broughton Memoirs (Copyright 1962, Second Edition), author M. Leon Broughton writes:

"With few exceptions, all the families that have borne the name in England are traced to the counties of Chester and Buckingham. In the County of Chester, the Broughtons descend in the male line from Hugh de Vernon, baron of Shipbroke at the time of the Norman conquest of England, whose son, Richard de Vernon was father of Adam de Napton, county of Warwick, whose issue assumed their local name from Broughton in Staffordshire.

In the county of Buckingham, at the time of the Domesday survey (1086), the principal manor of Broughton was held by Walter Giffard, Earl of Buckingham, and cousin of (William) the Conqueror. His sub-feudatory was his brother - supposed to have been a junior branch of the same family - who took his name from the place before the year 1200. The name Broughton continued to be prominent among the knights and sheriffs of England for three or four centuries."

Later in the book, M. Leon Broughton writes that "the Broughton family motto is spes vitae melieris: "The hope for a better life.""

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