Brunsunu

Male
CPL
4 of 5

Discussion of the name

Brunsunu is a masculine OE name formed from the elements brūn (‘brown’) and sunu (‘son’). Both name-elements came into use late in the Anglo-Saxon period and were rarely used in wealthy or high-ranking families. No other bearer of the name is currently recorded in PASE. Brunsunu used as a forename must be distinguished from the patronymic Brune sunu (‘son of Brun’) used as a byname, as by the Cambridgeshire sokeman Alric son of Brun (Alricus Brunesune) TRE (IE 110) and the small Suffolk free men Wulfmær son of Brun (Ulmer Brune sune) and Alstan son of Brun (Alstan Brune sune) in 1086 (FBB: 33, 37). In the case of the Kent landowner discussed below (Brunsunu 2), the scribe of GDB wrote his name unambiguously as a forename.

Bibliography

FBB: ‘The Feudal Book of Baldwin, abbot of Bury St. Edmunds, 1065–1098, contained in the Black Book of the abbey, MS. Mm. iv. 19, fols. 124–43b. (Cambridge University Library)’, in Feudal Documents from the Abbey of Bury St. Edmunds, ed. D. C. Douglas, British Academy Records of the Social and Economic History of England and Wales, 8 (London: Oxford University Press for the British Academy, 1932), 1–44

IE: Inquisitio Comitatus Cantabrigiensis subjicitur Inquisitio Eliensis, ed. N. E. S. A. Hamilton (London, 1876)

von Feilitzen 1937: Olof von Feilitzen, The Pre-Conquest Personal Names of Domesday Book, Nomina Germanica 3 (Uppsala: Almqvist and Wiksells, 1937)

Forms of the name

Spellings in Domesday Book: Brunesune

Forms in modern scholarship:

  von Feilitzen head forms: Brūnsunu

  Phillimore edition: Brown’s son (corrected to Brunsunu in Index of Persons)

  Alecto edition: Brunsunu

Distribution map of property and lordships associated with this name in DB

List of property and lordships associated with this name in DB

Holder 1066

Shire Phil. ref. Vill DB Spelling Holder 1066 Lord 1066 Tenant-in-Chief 1086 1086 Subtenant Fiscal Value 1066 Value 1086 Value Conf. Show on Map
Kent 5,10 Farningham Brunesune Brunsunu 'of Farningham' - Odo, bishop of Bayeux Mauger the man of Bishop Odo 0.25 0.75 0.75 A Map
Totals