10,219 Global BOURNE Family Members

BOURNE Family History

This ancient name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is one of the earliest topographical surnames existing today. The derivation is from the Old English pre 7th Century "burna, burne", spring, stream, which was originally used as a topographic name for someone who lived beside a stream. In the south of England the term was gradually replaced by the Old English "broc", brook, and came to be restricted in meaning to an intermittently flowing stream, especially one that flowed only in winter; this meaning of "bourn" is still found in the dialects of Kent, Surrey and Wiltshire. In the North, However, the word "burn" is still used for a stream...