Burgh Family History

English and Scottish: habitational name from one or other of the ten English places named Burgh in northern England and East Anglia or the six named Brough in Derbyshire Nottinghamshire Westmorland and Yorkshire. All these are from Old English burg burh Middle English burgh ‘massive earthwork fortification; manor borough’. Compare Bury.

The placename Burgh is pronounced as borough. The surname Brough arose equally from places now called Burgh and Brough and is the more common form of the surname in modern Britain where it is pronounced bruff or broof (/brʊf/).

The Scottish surname was probably brought in from Yorkshire. For the surname in Ireland see Burke.