Broderick — Irish Surname Origin & Meaning

Irish form: O Bruadair

Meaning: uncertain, an old personal name

Traditional stronghold: Cork, Limerick

Pronunciation: broh-DER-ik

History of the Broderick name

Broderick is the standard anglicisation of O Bruadair, an old Gaelic surname most associated with Cork and Limerick. The name is well known in Irish literary history through Daibhi O Bruadair, a major 17th-century Gaelic poet whose work lamented the collapse of the old Gaelic order after the Cromwellian and Williamite wars. In its anglicised form the surname continued into the modern era and is found across Munster and, through emigration, in the United States, where it is sometimes further altered to Brodrick.

Variants: Brodrick · O'Broderick · Bruodair

Famous bearers of the name

  • Daibhi O Bruadair — 17th-century Gaelic poet who chronicled the decline of the old Irish order
  • John Broderick — Athlone-born Irish novelist

Related names from the same part of Ireland: Murphy · O'Brien · Ryan · O'Sullivan · McCarthy · Daly · Collins · Fitzgerald

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