Browne - Irish Surname Origin & Meaning
Irish form: de Brún
Meaning: Norman - “brown”
Traditional stronghold: Galway, Mayo
A Tribe of Galway.
Pronunciation: brown; Irish de Brún: deh BROON
History of the Browne name
Browne, from the Norman-French le Brun, meaning the brown one, arrived in Ireland with the twelfth-century invasion and put down roots in several provinces. The Brownes were one of the fourteen Tribes of Galway, merchant princes of the city; a Mayo branch produced the Brownes of Westport House, later Marquesses of Sligo; the Brownes of the Neale became Barons Kilmaine; and in Kerry the Brownes of Killarney rose to be Earls of Kenmare, remarkable as great landowners who remained Catholic through the Penal era. Because the name was also brought independently by later English settlers, Brownes of quite different origins are found throughout Ireland.
Variants: Brown · de Brún · le Brun
Famous bearers of the name
- Noël Browne - Crusading Minister for Health whose Mother and Child Scheme brought down a government, and who helped defeat tuberculosis in Ireland.
- Vincent Browne - Limerick journalist and broadcaster, long one of Ireland's most tenacious political interviewers.
- Garech Browne - Guinness heir and patron of Irish music who founded Claddagh Records.
Related names from the same part of Ireland: Kelly · Walsh · Lynch · Connolly · Burke · Clarke · Hughes · Keane