Brannum last name popularity, history, and meaning

Find out how popular the last name Brannum is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Brannum.

Meaning of Brannum

A locational surname derived from a place name in England.

Brannum, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Brannum surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Brannum in America

Brannum is the 25255th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Brannum surname appeared 981 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Brannum.

We can also compare 2010 data for Brannum to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

20102000Change (%)
Rank2525526761-5.79%
Count98185513.73%
Proportion per 100k0.330.323.08%

The history of the last name Brannum

The surname BRANNUM originated in England during the Middle Ages. It is believed to have derived from the Old English words "bran" meaning a kind of burned material, and "ham" meaning a homestead or village. Thus, the name likely referred to someone who lived near a burned or charred area, perhaps referencing the aftermath of a fire or a clearing method for agriculture.

The earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in various medieval records, such as the Pipe Rolls of Yorkshire from the 13th century, where it appears as "Branham". This spelling variation suggests the name may have initially been a locational surname, referring to the village of Branham in Yorkshire.

One notable historical figure bearing this surname was John Brannum, a 14th-century landowner and yeoman from Lincolnshire, whose name appears in the Subsidy Rolls of 1327. Another early mention is found in the Court Rolls of Warwickshire from 1389, which references a William Brannum, a freeman of the town of Stratford-upon-Avon.

In the 16th century, the name appears in the Parish Registers of St. Mary's Church in Nottingham, where a Thomas Brannum was recorded as being baptized in 1562. Around the same time, the Brannum family is mentioned in the Manorial Records of Derbyshire, suggesting they held land and property in the region.

A prominent individual with this surname was Sir Robert Brannum, a 17th-century merchant and member of the East India Company. Born in 1635 in London, he made his fortune through trade with the British colonies in India and was knighted by King Charles II in 1670 for his contributions to the expansion of British commerce in the East.

Another notable figure was Elizabeth Brannum, a 19th-century author and poet from Cornwall. Born in 1815, she published several collections of poetry and was celebrated for her vivid descriptions of the Cornish landscape and its folklore.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Brannum

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Brannum.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

  1. White only
  2. Black only
  3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
  4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
  5. Hispanic
  6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Brannum was:

Race/EthnicityPercentageTotal Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only69.01%677
Non-Hispanic Black Only21.41%210
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only1.02%10
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native0.82%8
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races1.94%19
Hispanic Origin5.81%57

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Brannum has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

20102000Change (%)
White69.01%69.94%-1.34%
Black21.41%20.47%4.49%
Asian and Pacific Islander1.02%(S)%(S)%
American Indian and Alaskan Native0.82%(S)%(S)%
Two or More Races1.94%3.63%-60.68%
Hispanic5.81%4.80%19.04%

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Brannum was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Brannum, please contact us.

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