Brittan Surname History

The surname Brittan was first found in County Kildare and County Meath, where the name was established in the 13th century. It is often preceded by "le," as in "le Breton," in the Judiciary Rolls and Ormond Deeds of Ireland. This is an important distinction over the English versions of the same surname. In England, the name was derived from de Bretagne.

"This name, which is to be found in most parts of Ireland, though nowhere very numerous; in Dublin it is sometimes spelt Brittain. Its origin is geographical but it is derived from Britany in France not from Great Britain. It occurs quite frequently in our mediaeval records such as the Justiciary Rolls and Ormond Deeds, with the prefix le-le Breton etc.-not de, though in England similar records have also de Bretagne. Though widely distributed it was first, in the thirteenth century, established in Co. Kildare and Co. Meath but by the seventeenth century Co. Tipperary was its main location, though fairly well established in Co. Wexford also. Thus it is listed in the 'census' of 1659 as a principal Irish name in the barony of Middlethird in that county and the Co. Tipperary hearth money rolls of the next decade include no less than 32 householders of the name." 1

"The 'census' of 1659 also contains, as a principal Irish name, MacBritany, in the barony of Glencarne, Co. Antrim. It is possible that some families so called did later abbreviate this to Britain, but as a rule MacBritany can be taken as an earlier anglicized form of Mac Breathnaigh (i.e. son of the Welshman, and so akin to Brannagh and Walsh) now usually MacBratney and still located in northeast Ulster." 1