Bright Family History

14-Day Free Trial

GET STARTED

Bright Name Meaning

English: from a Middle English nickname or personal name, meaning ‘bright’, ‘fair’, ‘pretty’, from Old English beorht ‘bright’, ‘shining’. English: from a short form of any of several Old English personal names of which beorht was the first element, such as Beorhthelm ‘bright helmet’. Compare Bert. Americanized form of German Brecht. Americanized spelling of German Breit.

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University Press


Similar surnames: Wright, Knight, Light, Bligh, Britt, Brecht, Brighton, Ebright

Ready to discover your family story?

Simply start with yourself and we'll do the searching for you.

NEW

Bright Ethnicity Estimate

What are the common regions with the Bright name?

These results combine data from everyone in the AncestryDNA® database with the last name Bright. The Ancestry® ethnicity regions shown are top five most common on average for these people.

Explore the full experience here

  • England & Wales

    51%

  • Ireland & Scotland

    17%

  • Germanic Europe

    7%

  • Cameroon, Congo, & Southern Bantu Peoples

    4%

  • Benin/Togo

    3%

Your own DNA-based ethnicity estimate will differ from what you see here. To get your personalized ethnicity estimate, order an AncestryDNA® kit.order an AncestryDNA® kit.

Order a DNA Kit Today

Bright Family Origin

Where is the Bright family from?

Mapbox
© Mapbox © OpenStreetMap Improve this map
You can see how Bright families moved over time by selecting different census years. The Bright family name was found in the USA, the UK, Canada, and Scotland between 1840 and 1920. The most Bright families were found in the USA in 1880. In 1891 there were 1,183 Bright families living in London. This was about 18% of all the recorded Bright's in the UK. London had the highest population of Bright families in 1891.
Use census records and voter lists to see where families with the Bright surname lived. Within census records, you can often find information like name of household members, ages, birthplaces, residences, and occupations.

View Census Data for Bright

Bright Family Occupations

What did your Bright ancestors do for a living?

In 1881, Agricultural Labourer, Farmer and Labourer were the top 3 reported jobs worked by Bright. A less common occupation for the Bright family was Coal Miner. The most common Bright occupation in the UK was Agricultural Labourer. 8% of Bright's were Agricultural Labourers.

View Census data for Bright | Data not to scale

  • Agricultural Labourer

    8%

  • Farmer

    4%

  • Labourer

    4%

  • Coal Miner

    3%

Census records can tell you a lot of little known facts about your Bright ancestors, such as occupation. Occupation can tell you about your ancestor's social and economic status.

Bright Historical Records

What Bright family records will you find?

Census Record

There are 267,000 census records available for the last name Bright. Like a window into their day-to-day life, Bright census records can tell you where and how your ancestors worked, their level of education, veteran status, and more.

Search 1891 UK census records for Bright

Passenger List

There are 20,000 immigration records available for the last name Bright. Passenger lists are your ticket to knowing when your ancestors arrived in the UK, and how they made the journey - from the ship name to ports of arrival and departure.

View all Bright immigration records

Draft Card

There are 37,000 military records available for the last name Bright. For the veterans among your Bright ancestors, military collections provide insights into where and when they served, and even physical descriptions.

View all Bright military records

You've only scratched the surface of Bright family history.

Discover More

Bright Life Expectancy

What is the average Bright lifespan?

Between 1941 and 2004, in the United States, Bright life expectancy was at its lowest point in 1943, and highest in 2000. The average life expectancy for Bright in 1941 was 39, and 71 in 2004.

View Social Security Death Index (SSDI) for Bright

An unusually short lifespan might indicate that your Bright ancestors lived in harsh conditions. A short lifespan might also indicate health problems that were once prevalent in your family. The SSDI is a searchable database of more than 70 million names. You can find birthdates, death dates, addresses and more.

Famous Bright Family Ancestors

Discover the unique achievements of ancestors in your family tree

Famous ancestors img
Look up another name