Broderick
A surname of Irish origin, most often explained as an Anglicized form of an Irish Gaelic name.
The #3,404 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 29,393 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Broderick is generally treated as an Anglicized Irish surname, though older writers sometimes suggested other explanations. The Irish forms cited by nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century authorities point to a Gaelic original beginning with Ó / O’-, meaning “descendant of” a personal ancestor’s name. The exact underlying Gaelic name is not perfectly settled in the excerpts provided, so the safest account is that Broderick is an Irish surname rendered into English spelling and pronunciation.
History
The name is well established in Ireland and was later carried to Britain, North America, and elsewhere through migration. In older English-language references it occasionally drew folk etymologies, such as a supposed link with “broad rick,” but those are not considered reliable. The surname is familiar in modern Anglophone usage, including in the United States, where it survives as a relatively uncommon but established family name.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
An early modern source even tried to explain the name as something like “broad rick,” but that is a folk guess rather than the accepted origin.
From the historical record
“son, Sk,). Toulmin simpty reverses the two letters m and / (cf. Grundy for Gundry, and v. Broderick). i6oJ. Richard Towlmyn, ofBolUD-k- USs.”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instancesNotable people named Broderick
- Matthew Broderick (b. 1962)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.