GERMANNA_COLONIES-L Archives

From: BROYLES Listowner <>
Subject: What's In A Surname
Date: Tue, 06 Jul 1999 18:50:22 -0400

I found the following clue to the original name of BROYLES on the "History
of Surnames" web site at:

http://clanhuston.com/name/surnames.htm

BREULS:

Breuls is a patronymic derivation from Old French breuil = marshy
woodland, which later came to mean enclosed woodland, then later to mean
cleared woodland, and both senses are used as definitions for the
surname. Variations of the French place name are Breuilh, Bruel,
Dubreuil, Dubrule .

(Note from Listowner: This name is so close to the original names we have
found in Germany for our BROYLES ancestors that is HAS to be connected
somehow. It certainly gives credence to the theory that the BROYLES
ancestors originally came from the area that is now France. And, in some
German church documents BREUL (without the "s") has been found. I think
that the pronunciation of the French "BREUIL", and the German "BREULS",
comes very close to BROYLES and BRILES, falling somewhere in between the
pronunciation of the two words. )

SgtGeorge

SgtGeorge
George W. Durman
Knoxville, TN
BROYLES List Administrator

Caretaker of Web Site:
BROYLES/BRILES Family History (Germanna):
http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~george/index.html

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• What's In A Surname by BROYLES Listowner <>