English: from Middle English brigge ‘bridge’, Old English brycg, applied as a topographic name for someone who lived near a bridge, a metonymic occupational name for a bridge keeper, or a habitational name from any of the places named with this element, as for example Bridge in Kent or Bridge Sollers in Herefordshire. Building and maintaining bridges was one of the three main feudal obligations, along with bearing arms and maintaining fortifications. The cost of building a bridge was often defrayed by charging a toll, the surname thus being acquired by the toll gatherer.