Frequency: (827)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
English: nickname from Old French barateor, barateur ‘rogue’, ‘cheat’, ‘fraud’; alternatively, in some instances it may be from Old Norse barátta ‘beating’, ‘fight’, ‘battle’, hence by extension a troublemaker or quarrelsome man.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
