This name is of English locational origin from a place in Staffordshire called Brewood, recorded as Brewode in the Domesday Book of 1086 and as Brewuda in the 1188 Pipe Rolls of that county. The name derives from the Olde Welsh element 'bre', a hill, plus the Olde English pre 7th century 'wuda' a wood. Hence 'a wood on the hill'. The surname is well recorded in Staffordshire Church Registers from the late 16th century on, both as Bruwood and Brewood. On November 6th 1598, the marriage of one William Hartell and a Joan Bruwood is recorded and on November 24th 1613, one Margery Brewood married a John Swyftein Hints. In the modern idiom the name is spelt Brewood or Breewood. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Alice Brewood married Hamfrey Blewe. which was dated April 20th 1607 - at Tamworth, Staffordshire. during the reign of King James I of England and VI of Scotland 1603-25. 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.