Bilbrook

Recorded as Balbrook, Bilbrook, Bilbrooke, Bulbrook, Bullbrook, and probably others, this is an English surname It is locational from either Bilbrook, of which there are known to have been two examples, the first in the county of Somerset, and the second just to the east of Plymouth in Devonshire, or from Bulbrook, a now 'lost' medieval village, known to have been in the county of Berkshire. The meaning in all cases is probably the same of a lake where water cress grew, or possibly a lake of the Bula people. They were a famous tribe of the Olde English in about the 5th century. Originally 'brook' did not mean a stream, it described any area of water which was not stagnant. Locational surnames are often 'from' names. That is to say names given to people after they left their origfinal village to move somewhere else, as 'strangers' were most easity identified by being called after their former homes. Spelling over the centuries being at best indifferent, and local dialedcts very thick, often lead to the creation of 'sounds like' spellings. In this case early examples of the surname recording include Edward Bilbrooke at St Augustines church, Watling Street, in the city of London, on October 9th 1570, Anna Bulbrick, christened at St Martins in the Field, Westminster, on December 29th 1674, and Thomas Bullbrook christened at the same church on February 19th 1753.