Braton History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England

The Atlantic Ocean to the north and west and the English Channel to the south borders Cornwall, the homeland to the Braton family name. Even though the usage of surnames was common during the Middle Ages, all English people were known only by a single name in early times. The manner in which hereditary surnames arose is interesting. Local surnames are derived from where the original bearer lived, was born, or held land. The Braton family originally lived at the villages of Bratton Clovelly and Bratton Fleming in Devon. The name Bratton means the settlement by the brook. [1]

Early Origins of the Braton family

The surname Braton was first found in Devon, where the name is associated with two villages, Bratton Clovelly and Bratton Fleming. In the Domesday Book survey of 1086 Bratton Clovelly was recorded as lands held by Baldwin the Sheriff while Bratton Fleming was held by the Count of Mortain and was the site of a swinery and sheep farms. Early in the history of the family name it branched to Dorset, where William de Bratton, also recorded as de Braton, was registered in the Pipe Rolls of 1195. [2]

Some of the family may have originated in the village and civil parish of Bratton, near Westbury in Wiltshire as the Hundredorum Rolls of 1273 list Godfrey de Bratton as holding lands there in 1273. [3]

Bratton Castle (Bratton Camp) is a bivallate Iron Age hillfort on Bratton Down.

One of the most famous and earliest records of the family was Henry de Bretton, Bratton or Bracton (d. 1268), the English ecclesiastic and judge and author of a comprehensive treatise on the law of England. "Three places have been conjecturally assigned as the birthplace of this distinguished jurist, viz. Bratton Clovelly, near Okehampton in Devonshire, Bratton Fleming, near Barnstaple in the same county, and Bratton Court, near Minehead in Somersetshire. The pretensions of Bratton Clovelly seem to rest entirely upon the fact that anciently it was known as Bracton. " [4]

Early History of the Braton family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Braton research. Another 59 words (4 lines of text) covering the year 1794 is included under the topic Early Braton History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Braton Spelling Variations

Cornish surnames are characterized by a multitude of spelling variations. The frequent changes in surnames are due to the fact that the Old and Middle English languages lacked definite spelling rules. The official court languages, which were Latin and French, were also influential on the spelling of a surname. Since the spelling of surnames was rarely consistent in medieval times, and scribes and church officials recorded names as they sounded rather than adhering to any specific spelling rules, it was common to find the same individual referred to with different spellings of their surname in the ancient chronicles. Moreover, a large number of foreign names were brought into England, which accelerated and accentuated the alterations to the spelling of various surnames. Lastly, spelling variations often resulted from the linguistic differences between the people of Cornwall and the rest of England. The Cornish spoke a unique Brythonic Celtic language which was first recorded in written documents during the 10th century. However, they became increasingly Anglicized, and Cornish became extinct as a spoken language in 1777, although it has been revived by Cornish patriots in the modern era. The name has been spelled Bratton, Braton, Brattone, Bratone, Bratten and many more.

Early Notables of the Braton family

More information is included under the topic Early Braton Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Braton migration to the United States +

Early North American immigration records have revealed a number of people bearing the name Braton or a variant listed above:

Braton Settlers in United States in the 17th Century

John Braton, who landed in Virginia in 1698 [5]

Braton Settlers in United States in the 18th Century

Robert Braton, who arrived in Virginia in 1733 [5]

Braton migration to Canada +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Braton Settlers in Canada in the 19th Century

Mary Braton, who arrived in Nova Scotia in 1830

Citations +

Mills, A.D., Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-19-869156-4)
Reaney, P.H and R.M. Wilson, A Dictionary of English Surnames. London: Routledge, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-415-05737-X)
Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)
Smith, George (ed), Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1885-1900. Print
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)