Brown

See also: brown

English

Etymology

From Middle English Broun, originally a nickname for someone with brown hair or a dark complexion. In the United States, sometimes an anglicization and translation of German Braun. Doublet of Bruno and Braun.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊn

Proper noun

Brown (countable and uncountable, plural Browns)

1. (countable) A surname.
   • 2009 April 3, Helene Cooper, “Obama’s Star Turn at Summit Gets Mixed Results”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     (The Browns gave the Obamas an ornate penholder made from the timber of a Victorian antislave ship.)

   • 2010 October 10, Oscar Kightley, New Zealand Herald:

     After 170 years this is the closest Auckland has come to having a brown mayor. Sure he's a Palagi. But his name is Brown, he's run Manukau for a long time and there's heaps of brown people there so he's gladly owned by many in the Pacific Community.

   1. An English and Scottish surname transferred from the nickname.
   2. An Irish surname of Anglo-Norman origin, a translation of de Brún.
2. A locale in the United States.
   1. An unincorporated community in California; named for hotelier George Brown.
   2. An unincorporated community in Louisiana; named for landowner George W. Brown.
   3. An unincorporated community in Oklahoma; named for postmaster Robert H. Brown.
   4. An unincorporated community in West Virginia; named for early settler John Brown.
   5. A ghost town in Nevada.
   6. A number of townships in the United States, listed under Brown Township.
3. Brown University.

Alternative forms

• (surname): Browne, Broun

Derived terms

• Brown clustering
• Brown County
• Brownian
• Brownism
• Brownist
• Brownite
• Brownsville
• Hanbury Brown-Twiss effect

 

Translations

transliterations of the English name "Brown"

• Arabic: بْرَاوْن (brāwn)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 布朗 (zh) (Bùlǎng)

• Esperanto: Braŭno
• Greek: Μπράουν (el) (Bráoun)
• Hebrew: בראון
• Hindi: ब्राउन (brāun)
• Japanese: ブラウン (ja) (Buraun)
• Korean: 브라운 (Beuraun)
• Maori: Parāone
• Persian: براون
• Russian: Бра́ун (ru) m or f (Bráun), Бро́ун m or f (Bróun) (traditional form for some famous people)

surname meaning "brown", or indicating a dark complexion

• Afrikaans: de Bruyn, de Bruyns, Bruyn, Bruyns, de Bruin, de Bruins
• Catalan: Bru (ca)
• Danish: Brun, Bruun
• Dutch: Bruin, Bruijn, Bruyn, Bruyns, Bruins, de Bruyne, de Bruyn, de Bruin, de Bruine, de Bruijn, de Bruijne
• Finnish: Rusko (fi)
• French: Lebrun (fr), Brun (fr), Brunet (fr)
• German: Braun (de), Braune (de), Brun, Brune, Bruhn
• Hungarian: Barna (hu)
• Italian: Bruno (it), Bruni, Brunetti, Moro (it), Mori, Marrone, Mora (it), Moretti
• Norwegian: Brun, Bruun
• Polish: Brązowski
• Portuguese: Castanho, Moreno (pt)
• Spanish: Castaño (es), Moreno (es), Pardo (es)
• Swedish: Brun (sv), Bruun

Statistics

• According to the 2010 United States Census, Brown is the 4^th most common surname in the United States, belonging to 1,425,470 individuals. Brown is most common among White (58.0%) and Black/African American (35.6%) individuals.

Noun

Brown (plural Browns)

1. Alternative letter-case form of brown (“person with a dark complexion”)

Adjective

Brown (comparative more Brown, superlative most Brown)

1. (chiefly US, often Canada and UK) Alternative letter-case form of brown (“of a dark complexion”)

See also

• Browne

 

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English Brown.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bʁawn/, /bʁɔwn/

Proper noun

Brown ?

1. a surname from English

Scots

Proper noun

Brown

1. a surname