BRUTON was a locational name 'of Bretton', a native of Brittany. The name was brought to England in the wake of the Norman Conquest of 1066 and BRUTON (without surname) who was documented in County Essex in the year 1086, appears to be the first of the name in England. The name has been in Ireland since the 16th century; rare formerly, although now quite numerous in Dublin. The acquisition of surnames in Europe and England, during the last eight hundred years has been affected by many factors, including social class and social structure, naming practices in cultures and traditions. On the whole the richer and more powerful classes tended to acquire surnames earlier than the working class or the poor, while surnames were quicker to catch on in urban areas than in more sparsely populated rural areas. The bulk of surnames in England were formed in the 13th and 14th centuries. The process started earlier and continued in place names into the 19th century, but the norm is that in the 11th century people did not have surnames, whereas by the 15th century they did. Other records of the name mention Elias le Brutun of the County of Oxfordshire in 1273. Almaric le Bruton, ibid. William Bruton of County Devon, was registered at Oxford University in 1616. William Bruton and Frances Richardson were married at St. George's, Hanover Square, London in 1750. The rise of surnames, according to the accepted theory, was due to the Norman Conquest of 1066 when Old English personal-names were rapidly superseded by the new christian names introduced by the Normans. Of these, only a few were really popular and in the 12th century this scarcity of christian names led to the increasing use of surnames to distinguish the numerous individuals of the same name. Some Normans had hereditary surnames before they came to England, but there is evidence that surnames would have developed in England even had there been no Norman Conquest. The development of the feudal system made it essential that the king should know exactly what service each person owed. Payments to and by the exchequer required that debtors and creditors should be particularized, and it became official that each individual acquired exact identification. The associated arms are recorded in Sir Bernard Burkes General Armory. Ulster King of Arms in 1884.
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