Message: "Origin and meaning of unusual name..."

[Facts] Origin and meaning of unusual name...

by Riverbird

8/23/2009, 7:08 PM

My maternal great-grandmother's name was Brinnie (rhymes with "briny" as in "the briny deep") and no relatives have been able to shed any light on to where this name came from. I do know she was of Scottish descent. I'm wondering if anyone here might have heard or seen this name before and if they might know it's origin and/or meaning. I'm thinking it might be derived from another name but which one I'm not sure. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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- Katica (earthnut) +1

8/24/2009, 6:57 PM

Could be a local variant of Bridget.

- Llewella (penguiny7)

8/26/2009, 3:13 AM

That was actually my first thought too.

- Riverbird

8/24/2009, 5:47 PM

She was born in 1890 to poor farmers, so I wouldn't be surprised if this was just a misspelling of Briony or Bryony. Anyway, thanks for all the replies. :)

- Pie +1

8/24/2009, 3:47 PM

It depends on when your great-grandmother was born, but Briony and Bryony don't seem to have been used as Victorian names at all, so I'm not sure the other posters are right. I found a couple of Brinnies in the England and Wales births, marriages and deaths, one in 1888 and one in 1902. Both of them were born in Wales, where there were several female variants of Brynmor (a male name), like Brynwen and Bryngwyn and Bryneg. Brinley was a popular male name in Wales, too.

Of course none of this may have any connection with your Brinnie!

- Lethe (reniannen17)

8/25/2009, 11:52 AM

I'm also sceptical of the Bryony theory for the same reason. I can only do free searches on Ancestry but it doesn't look like it was much used as a name anywhere before the mid 20thC. Cleveland Kent Evans is the expert on trends though.

The Welsh idea seems more plausible to me, but I suppose only if this Brinnie had Welsh ancestry.

I can't find any plausible Scottish names.

- Llewella (penguiny7) +2

8/24/2009, 3:37 AM

Based on the pronunciation, perhaps her parents were attempting to name her Bryony? Just a guess.

- Shaymin +1

8/24/2009, 1:52 PM

I would have to agree with Llewella. Its most likely just a mispelling of Bryony. A lot of people back then were not literate and spelled names the way they heard them.

- Llewella (penguiny7)

8/24/2009, 3:38 PM

And further support of this is that her name was spelled Brinnie but pronounced like briny, which doesn't make sense in English.

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