Brougham Genealogy

Brougham is a habitational name, individuals taking the name of the location where they come from.  In theory Brougham's receive their name from the village of Brougham near Penrith in Cumbria, Northern England.  At Brougham, are the ruins of Brougham Castle and Brougham Hall.  The area is predominantly farming land on the edge of the Lake District National Park to the south west, the Peninines to the north east and the Yorkshire Dales to the south east.  In Ontario, Canada there is a second Brougham location, a little hamlet near Pickering. This Canadian Brougham is possibly about to disappear to make way for a new city airport.  As with many of these North American place names they largely have British origins. Brougham, Pickering and Durham all have a northern England namesake.

​

There are a few theories as to how the village of Brougham, on the outskirts of Penrith derived its name.  The first theory is that it comes from the old Roman Fort name, Brocavum, on which the castle is now built.  A second is that it is a combination of the words for brow of a hill, bru, and the homestead name, ham, bru-ham.  A third theory is that it is linked to the nearby castle location of Brough and again, ham, but this feels too obvious.  A fourth is a combination of Burgh meaning fortification and ham. The de Burgham family were the first recorded owners of Brougham Hall. 

​​

There have been many corruptions and derivations of the surname with some Broughams being incorrectly named brougham following misspellings and misinterpretation of names in years gone by when there were less people who could read and write. Derivations include Broom(e), Browham, Broghan, Browme, Brufham, Browholme, Broham and many others.  Some of these stand in their own right, others have become confused with Brougham, as Brougham has become confused with others making the job of the Brougham genealogist that bit more difficult. There is an interesting article on the Burgham Family History Society website on whether the  

Burgum and Burgham are in fact the same as Brougham.  On probabability they argue probably not.   See here​

​