Brunskill

Brunskill is a surname of English origin.

Brunskill has an Anglo-Saxon, Old Norse and Norsemen origin, and it is a topographical name for someone who lives at a brown coloured stream or a brown hill. It derives from the Olde English pre 7th Century "brun" which derived from the Germanic word for "brown", and also either the Old Norse "skjallr" meaning "resounding" (a name of a river, strong stream or waterfall) or "hyll" meaning a "hill" or "mount". Topographical surnames were among the earliest created, since both natural and man-made features in the landscape provided easily recognisable distinguishing names in the small communities of the Middle Ages.
The village of Brownhills near Lichfield is also a possible source of the name, but the predominance of recordings in the London area suggests that the source is a now "lost" place in the South East of England. The surname was first recorded in the late 16th Century and early name recordings include, Jayne Bronskill who married Edmonde Walker at St. Brides', Fleet Street, London, on 25 September 1602, and Francis Brunskill, who married Katherine Temple at St. Dunstan's, Stepney, also in London, on 20 October 1625, in the reign of Charles I. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Marie Bronskyll, which was dated 23 May 1588, christened at St. Mary's at Hill, London, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, known as "Good Queen Bess", 1558 - 1603. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.