Branford

This name is of Anglo - Saxon origin, and is a locational surname deriving from the place called 'Bramford' in Suffolk. The placename is recorded in 1040 as 'Bromford', and in the Domesday Book of 1086 as 'Branfort', and means 'the broom ford', from the Olde English pre 7th Century word 'brom', broom, with 'ford', ford. The change of 'M' to 'N' was a common variant, as in the placename 'Branton' in Northumberland, recorded in 1236 as 'Bremtun' and meaning 'settlement where broom grew'. Locational names were usually given to those former inhabitants of a place who left to live in another area. Mary Bramford was christened in Ipswich in 1580, and Mark Branforde married Priscilla Ladd on the 8th November 1631 at Wherstead, in Suffolk. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Richard Branford, christened, which was dated 24th September 1547, St. Peter Mancroft, Norwich, Norfolk, during the reign of King Edward VI, The Boy King, 1547 - 1553. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.