Brakley History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England

Etymology of Brakley

What does the name Brakley mean?

The Brakley name has descended through the generations from the ancient Anglo-Saxon culture. Their name comes from having lived at a clearing in an area with a lush growth of bracken, a type of fern. Brackley is a town in south Northamptonshire with a very interesting history. Originally the town was known as Brachelai or Brackele, and owned in 1086 by Earl Alberic. By the 11th and 12th centuries Brackley was part of the Hundred of Odboldistow and in the Manor of Halse. Richard I (The Lionheart) named five official sites for jousting tournaments so that such events could not be used as local wars, and Brackley was one of these. Henry III attacked and destroyed the castle in 1173. King John and the barons were originally to have signed Magna Carta at Brackley Castle, but they eventually did so at Runnymede.

Early Origins of the Brakley family

The surname Brakley was first found in Northamptonshire, where they held a family seat from ancient times.

Early History of the Brakley family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Brakley research. Another 257 words (18 lines of text) covering the years 1086, 1202, 1273, 1332, 1500, 1540, 1617, 1672, 1697, 1704, 1729 and 1769 are included under the topic Early Brakley History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Brakley Spelling Variations

Only recently has spelling become standardized in the English language. As the English language evolved in the Middle Ages, the spelling of names changed also. The name Brakley has undergone many spelling variations, including Brackley, Brackele, Brackely, Braceley, Bracely and others.

Early Notables of the Brakley family

Thomas Egerton Brackley (1540-1617), British judge and statesman. John Brekell (1697-1769), was a Presbyterian minister, born at North Meols, Lancashire, in 1697, and was educated for the ministry at Nottingham. "His first known settlement...
Another 32 words (2 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Brakley Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Brakley migration to the United States +

To escape the unstable social climate in England of this time, many families boarded ships for the New World with the hope of finding land, opportunity, and greater religious and political freedom. Although the voyages were expensive, crowded, and difficult, those families that arrived often found greater opportunities and freedoms than they could have experienced at home. Many of those families went on to make significant contributions to the rapidly developing colonies in which they settled. Early North American records indicate many people bearing the name Brakley were among those contributors:

Brakley Settlers in United States in the 17th Century

William Brakley, who landed in Virginia in 1622 1

Sources +

Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)