Frequency: (2786)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
English: topographic or habitational name, ultimately from the dative case, byrig, of Old English burh ‘stronghold’, ‘fortified place’ + man ‘man’.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
