The brake Surname
brake Name Meaning and History
- English: topographic name for someone who lived by a clump of bushes or by a patch of bracken. Brake ‘thicket’ and brake ‘bracken’ were homonyms in Middle English. The first is from Old English bracu; the second is by folk etymology from northern Middle English braken, -en being taken as a plural ending. After the words had fallen together, their senses also became confused.
- North German: habitational name from any of several places so named, notably the town on the Weser, or a topographic name from Middle Low German brak ‘clearing’, ‘coppice’.
Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
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Brake message board
Threads: 134 - Messages: 596
| Thread | Author | Replies |
| Brakes of Yetminster, England | Patti | 22 |
| Brakes from Esterwegen(sp?), Germany | Randy Brake | 54 |
| Jacob Brake - Edgecombe County, NC |
 kayb95
| 43 |
| Mary Louisa BRAKE Sullivan information sought | Martha Collins | 2 |
| BRAKE Suzanne and Norman |
| 0 |
| Margaret BRAKE - Germany |
tmkoehler
| 21 |
| BRAKE |
tocar
| 68 |
| Edward Brake, Josephine Duval | Marlene Companion | 3 |
| Brake Photos |
nancy14106
| 4 |
| Maranda Brake, Cook |
MWoodside4505
| 0 |
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