This a medieval English locational surname, although one of great antiquity. Given that there are at least twelve places called Brompton or with Brompton as part of the name including such as Potter Brompton in East Yorkshire, Patrick Brompton, Brompton on Swale, as well as just Brompton on its own, all in North Yorkshire, Ralph Brompton in Somerset, Brompton in Middlesex and Shropshire and others, one might have thought that this would be a very popular surname. In fact although most of the Bromptons are first recorded as a place name and usually as Brunton or Bruntone in the famous Domesday Book of 1086, the surname recordings are rare, and do not seem to appear in the surviving church registers of the city of London at all. This is very unusual for any English surname, and for a locational name, unique in our experience. The name means "broom village" from the pre 7th century brom-tun, but for some reason the Norman clerics seem to have consistently spelt them as "brun-tune". The first surname recording would seem to be that of Geoffry de Brunton. This is in the Pipe Rolls of Yorkshire in the year 1205, and a century later in 1312, and far away in Devonshire, that of William de Bromptone, in the registers known as the Letter Books for the county.

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