Brinded Family History

Apparently from Bintree (Norfolk), which is recorded as Binnetre in 1086 and Binetre in 1180. If so, the surname shows voicing of -t- to -d- in the cluster -ntr- and the development of an excrescent final -d (thus Byndred in the 16th-century examples below) as well as a kind of metathesis at a distance in which the -r- has shifted from the second syllable to the first (perhaps influenced by the contemporary term brinded ‘brindled, streaked, spotted’ as if a nickname).

It is noteworthy that alternation between forms with final -d and final -y persists until the 19th century. However, evidence from the late 15th and early 16th centuries which might help to confirm a connection between the medieval and post-medieval bearers is wanting.

The place-name derives from the Old English personal name Bynna + trēow ‘tree’.