| ![Show Contents]() Brants History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms
Etymology of BrantsWhat does the name Brants mean? It wasn’t until the 10th and 11th centuries that Jewish surnames began for the Jews living in North Africa, Spain, France, and Italy. 1 With the pressure to have a fixed surname, Jews sought out interesting ways to name themselves. Some gathered at the synagogue and the rabbi opened a prayer book, the first word on a page was then offered to a family, and so on. Some took names from popular characters in literature. While others created matronymic and patronymic names with suffixes like -sohn, -ov, -kin, etc to denote “descendant of”. 2 In some cases, the name Brants has been derived from the personal name Brando, and is patronymic. Sometimes this surname comes from the Middle High German "Brant," a topographic name used for someone who lived in an area cleared by fire. Lastly, the name was also occupational, derived from the German word "brandler," or distiller. Early Origins of the Brants familyThe surname Brants was first found in Bavaria, which became a fertile source of many succeeding branches of the family name. They were later found in Westphalia and Saxony, where they possessed lands at Haardorff and Stackelberg. The family name was later distinguished when it was elevated to the nobility of the Holy Roman Empire, in 1778. Brants Spelling VariationsSpelling variations of this family name include: Brandt, Brandte, Brandtes, Brandtte, Brant, Brante, Brandes, Brandis, Brand, Brande, Brandde, Brannde, Brend, Brende, Brendel, Brendde, Brennde and many more.
| Brants migration to the United States | + |
Brants Settlers in United States in the 17th Century- Gerritje Brants, who arrived in New York in 1637 3
- Lysbeth Brants, who landed in New York in 1640 3
| Brants migration to Canada | + |
Brants Settlers in Canada in the 18th Century- Mr. Henry Brants U.E. who settled in Fredericksburgh, Cataraqui township, [Greater Napanee], Ontario c. 1783 4
- Weiss, Nelly. The Origin of Jewish family names: Morphology and History. Peter Lang AG, 2002. Digital
- Kaganoff, Benzion C. A Dictionary of Jewish names and their history. Schocken Books, 1977. Digital
- 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)
- Rubincam, Milton. The Old United Empire Loyalists List. Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc, 1976. (Originally published as; United Empire Loyalists. The Centennial of the Settlement of Upper Canada. Rose Publishing Company, 1885.) ISBN 0-8063-0331-X
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