Family name origins & meanings
- English (mainly Somerset) : habitational name from Bradnor in Herefordshire, so named with Old English brād ‘broad’ (dative -an) + ōra ‘hill slope’.
- Possibly an altered spelling of the South German surname Brettner, an occupational name for someone who cut shingles or boards, from an agent derivative of Middle High German bret ‘board’, or in some cases perhaps a habitational name for someone from Bretten in Baden.