Local 'of Brittany.' (a) Nick. 'the Breton.' Immigrants from Brittany. A very large number occur in the Hundred Rolls of 1373.

John de Brytaygn, Cambridgeshire, 1273. Hundred Rolls.

Giffard le Bretun, Buckinghamshire, ibid.

Hugo le Bretun, Cambridgeshire, ibid.

Roger le Bretun, Suffolk, ibid.

Alicia de Britten, 1379: Poll Tax of Yorkshire.

Elias de Britton, 1379: ibid.

Ricardus Britton, 1379: ibid.

1790. Married — William Britten and Anne Keene: St. George, Hanover Square.

1796. — John Britton and Sarah Wilkins: ibid.

This is the usual form of this name, which is to be found in most parts of Ireland, though nowhere very numerous; in Dublin it is sometimes spelt Brittain. Its origin is geographical but it is derived from Britany in France not from Great Britain. It occurs quite frequently in our mediaeval records such as the Justiciary Rolls and Ormond Deeds, with the prefix le-le Breton etc.-not de, though in England similar records have also de Bretagne. Though widely distributed it was first, in the thirteenth century, established in Co. Kildare and Co. Meath but by the seventeenth century Co. Tipperary was its main location, though fairly well established in Co. Wexford also. Thus it is listed in the “census” of 1659 as a principal Irish * name in the barony of Middlethird in that county and the Co.

Tipperary hearth money rolls of the next decade include no less than 32 householders of the name.

The only reference to it in the Fiants of the previous century is one to James Brittyn of Milltown, Co.

Tipperary, who obtained a “pardon” in 1567. During the eighteenth century it became scattered.

Brittan is now numerous enough on the Donegal-Tyroneborder to be included in the map of that area prepared for me by the late J. C. MacDonagh.

The “census” of 1659 also contains, as a principal Irish name, MacBritany, in the barony of Glencarne, Co. Antrim. It is possible that some families so called did later abbreviate this to Britain, but as a rule MacBritany can be taken as an earlier anglicized form of Mac Breathnaigh (i.e. son of the Welshman, and so akin to Brannagh and Walsh) now usually MacBratney and still located in northeast Ulster.

*Briscoes were still to be found in Co. Offaly in 1855: Griffith's Valuation records eleven families of the name mainly In the baronies of Ballybritt, Ballycowan and Garrycastle.

(Celtic) 'Breton, i.e.. a Native of Brittany [Old French Breteigne, Bretaigne (French Bretagne), Latin Britannia (Minor), of Celtic orig.: cp. Latin Britto, -onis, a Briton, a Gaul] Roger le Bretun.—Hundred Rolls John de Brytaygn.— do.

Fraunce hafe ye frely with your fyghte wonnen . . .

Bretayne and Burgoyne es bothe to yow bowen.— The Awntyrs of Arthurs, 271,273. 2 Briton, i.e. a Native of Britain.

Britan occurs as a personal name in early Irish history.

This is derived from Brittany in France not from Great Britain-it was however le Breton in mediaeval times in Ireland not de Bretagne as in England. It is to be distinguished from the Co.

Antrim MacBritany (Mac Breathnaigh) now usually MacBratney. SIF 23

(English) One who came from Brittany (figure picture), a region in France.

My late friend, Mr. John Britton, F.S.A., the oldest antiquary of England, writing in his eighty-sixth year, says: "Britton, Britain, Briten, Bretten, Brittain, &c.-not common in England. I find that they abounded in parishes between Bath and Bristol. I have names from ten different registers. They rarely emigrated to Bath, Bristol, or London." A branch however did settle at Bristol about a century ago, and thence removed to Jamaica. The respectable family of Breton, of Kent and Sussex, usually pronounce their name as if spelt Britton, and there is no doubt of its original identity with it. See Breton.

A native of Britain, the ancient name of England. Several derivations have been given to Britain, such as Brydon or Prydyn, Welsh, the fair tribe, or brave men. Bridaoine, Gaelic, from Bri, dignity, and daoine, men. Pryddain, the fair and beautiful isle. Brait or Briand, extensive, and in, land. Brit—tane, the land of tin.

From the French, Breton, Britton, le Breton; from the Danish, Bretton; from the Flemish, Breting; in the Domesday Book, Brito; personal name Breton in Roll of Battell Abbey. Brito, Briton, le Briton in Rotuli de Oblatis et Finibus, King John

Brett: from Brittany.