Broom
A mainly English surname that usually points to someone who lived near broom plants or came from a place called Broom.
The #6,484 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 58,966 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Broom is usually explained as a local surname, from one of several English places called Broom or from residence near broom plants. The plant name goes back to Old English brōm, meaning the broom shrub. Some older writers also noted a few families who claimed a more prestigious origin, but the place-name explanation is generally the likeliest.
History
Lower explicitly treated Broom/Broome as most likely local rather than aristocratic in origin, and Bardsley likewise connected many forms with residence near the plant or with places named Brome/Broom. The surname is found in several English counties, especially in forms like Broome and Brome, and spellings could vary widely before standardization. Related forms such as Bloom were sometimes treated as later corruptions or variants in older records.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The same Old English word behind the surname also produced a number of English place-names, which is why Broom is often both a surname and a toponym.
From the historical record
“BROOKS. BROOKES. See Brook. BROOM. BROOME. Some families claim to be of Plautagcnet origin with an anglicised name; but the name is more likely to be local, from one of the parishes so called in cos. Norfolk, Sufiblk, Stafford, BecUbrd, and Durham. BROOMAN. In Domesd. Bruman. Fr. "a sonne-in-law." Cotgr.…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom