3,913 Global BRAITHWAITE Family Members

BRAITHWAITE Family History

This name is of Northern English locational origin from any of the places in Cumbria and Yorkshire thus called. Recorded variously as Braythwayt and Braythweit in late 13th Century records of the above countries, the derivation in all cases is from the Olde Norse "breithr" meaning broad, plus "thweit", a cleared area; hence, "broad cleared piece of land". The surname is first recorded in the early 14th Century (see below). One Willelmus de Brathwayt appears in the 1379 Poll Tax Returns Records of Yorkshire.