Recorded as Brick, Bricke, Brik, the diminutives Bricket and Brickell, this is an English surname. It is either residential for someone who lived near a bridge, or an occupational name for a bridge keeper. The derivation is deriving from the Olde English pre 7th century word "brycg", meaning a bridge or causeway. It can also be an Ashkenazic name deriving from the Yiddish "brik," also meaning bridge. The surname is one of the earliest on recordd as shown below, whilst examples from surviving church registers include Jane Brik who married James Reade on August 24th 1626 at St. Andrews by the Wardrobe, in the city of London, and John Bricke who was christened on September 27th 1640 at St. Nicholas Cole Abbey, also city of London. William Brick, aged 30 years, was an Irish famine emigrant. He sailed from Liverpool aboard the appropriate ship called "Orphan" bound for New York. on May 1st 1846. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Gilbert atte Brigge. This was dated 1272 in the Names List of Surrey, during the reign of King Edward 1st, and known to history as the Hammer of the Scots, 1272 - 1307. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was sometimes known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.