Brogdon
An English surname that is most likely a spelling variant of Brogden, probably from a place name meaning a valley or dene associated with a man named Brock or with a badger-like sense of the root.
The #7,641 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 71,041 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Brogdon is usually treated as a variant of Brogden. Brogden is generally explained as a habitational name from a place in northern England, built from an old word for a brook or stream-like valley element plus a second element meaning a valley, dene, or hollow. Some older writers also connect the first element with a personal name or with an animal-root such as Old English brocc, "badger," but the exact origin is not certain.
History
The form appears in historical records alongside Brogden and Brockden, showing that spelling varied quite freely before modern standardization. The name is especially associated with northern English surname forms and later spread through ordinary migration. Modern Brogdon in the US is likely descended from one or more of these British spellings.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
A 17th-century London marriage record and a Norwich aldermanic record both show the surname shifting between Brogden and Brockden-like spellings.
From the historical record
“WilliamBrockdcn, co. York, 1544: 1579. Dennis Brogdon and Elis. Gal- land : Marriage Lie (London), L 87. 1687. Richard Brockden, or Brogden, ald<>nnan of Norwich : FF. Hi. A23.”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames (alternate scan)