What does brickenden mean as a surname?

Answer 1

It is an Old English place-name that has become a surname and changed form over time.

The place name was probably something like "woodland pasture belonging to the people of Bieda" - in Old English biedingden. This consists of the personal name Bieda, the -ing means "people of" and -den is an area of woodland cleared for farming.

There is a village in Kent (south-east England) called Biddenden which has the same origin; in earlier times its name was Bidingden. Brekynden is a late medieval form of this place-name, which would be used to identify people from the area:

John of Brekynden

Wat of Brekynden

and son on.

Eventually this became a surname and evolved into Brickenden.