Brood

This rare and unusual surname is seemingly English. Recorded in a wide variety of recordings, although all are quite rare, and including Brood, Broode, Broodes, Broyd and Brude, it would appear to be a nickname of occupation for a game or chicken farmer. If so the derivation is from the pre 7th century Olde English word 'brod' meaning to breed, although it may have had other connotations in medieval times. Nicknames surnames form one of the largest groups in the listings, and many derive from a physical base associated with work. The only other possible explanation for the name would seem to be from the Hebrew or Slavonic word which is also spelt 'brod', and meaning a ford. However experience suggests that such an origin would be highly unlikely in Medieval England when this name was created. Examples of the recordings taken from surviving church registers as far back as Elizabethan times include: Joyce Brude who married Richard Candler at St Dionis Backchurch, in the city of London, on April 14th 1582, William Brood, a witness at St Margarets Westminster, on April 15th 1610, and Amelia Broyd, the daughter of Thomas Broyd, who was christened at St Dunstans in the East, Stepney, on April 9th 1867.