Family name origins & meanings
- English : habitational name from any of various minor places, for example Brede in Sussex, named with Old English brǣdu ‘breadth’, ‘broad place’ (a derivative of brād ‘broad’).
- Modern bearers of the American surname Breed are in many cases descended from Alan Breed, who came to Salem, MA, from England in 1629, and subsequently settled at Saugus, MA.