Bruny last name popularity, history, and meaning

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

Meaning of Bruny

A locational surname originating from the French island of Bruni.

Bruny, 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 Bruny surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Bruny in America

Bruny is the 90113th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Bruny surname appeared 205 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 Bruny.

We can also compare 2010 data for Bruny 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.

2010 2000 Change (%)
Rank 90113 90252 -0.15%
Count 205 190 7.59%
Proportion per 100k 0.07 0.07 0.00%

The history of the last name Bruny

The surname BRUNY originated in the Provence region of southern France during the Middle Ages. It is derived from the Old Provençal word "brun", meaning brown or dark-haired. This likely referred to an individual's physical appearance or complexion.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name BRUNY can be found in the 1292 tax roll of the city of Marseille, where a Jacques Bruny is listed as a landowner. The name also appears in various medieval manuscripts and records from the region, often spelled as "Bruni" or "Bruny".

In the 14th century, a notable bearer of the BRUNY name was Guillaume Bruny, a merchant and ambassador from Avignon who represented the interests of the Papal court in negotiations with the Kingdom of Naples and the Republic of Venice between 1340 and 1368.

During the Renaissance period, the BRUNY family produced several scholars and humanists, including Leonardo Bruni (1370-1444), an Italian historian and philosopher who served as the Apostolic Secretary to Pope John XXIII and translated many ancient Greek texts into Latin.

The name BRUNY also has connections to French exploration and colonial efforts. In 1642, Abel Janszoon Tasman, a Dutch explorer in the service of the Dutch East India Company, named an island off the southeastern coast of what is now Tasmania after his patron, the French statesman and author Antoine de Bruny (1588-1661).

Other notable individuals with the surname BRUNY include Charles Bruny (1760-1838), a French naval officer and explorer who served as the governor of the French colony of Guadeloupe, and Jules Bruny (1838-1911), a French artist and illustrator renowned for his illustrations of works by Victor Hugo and Honoré de Balzac.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Bruny

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

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 Bruny was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 30.24% 62
Non-Hispanic Black Only 64.88% 133
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only (S)% (S)
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.00% 0
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races (S)% (S)
Hispanic Origin 2.93% 6

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 Bruny has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 30.24% 36.84% -19.68%
Black 64.88% 50.53% 24.87%
Asian and Pacific Islander (S)% 3.16% (S)%
American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.00% (S)% (S)%
Two or More Races (S)% 8.42% (S)%
Hispanic 2.93% (S)% (S)%

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 Bruny was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

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

Reference this page

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If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!

"Bruny last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on November 22, 2024. http://namecensus.com/last-names/bruny-surname-popularity/.

"Bruny last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/bruny-surname-popularity/. Accessed 22 November, 2024

Bruny last name popularity, history, and meaning. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from http://namecensus.com/last-names/bruny-surname-popularity/.

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