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

  • IPA(key): /bɹaʊn/
  • 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], archived from the original on 26 February 2022:
      (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.
    • 2022 May 12, Dave Davies, “Has Tucker Carlson created the most racist show in the history of cable news?”, in NPR[2], spoken by Nicholas Confessore, archived from the original on 28 June 2023:
      In his cast of characters, you really see a disproportionate focus, I think, on Black women - on Kamala Harris, who he's insinuated only has her job today because of who she dated; to Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who he's demanded the LSAT scores of - I don't recall him demanding the LSAT scores for Brett Kavanaugh - Karine Jean-Pierre.
    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

Derived terms

Translations

Statistics

  • According to the 2010 United States Census, Brown is the 4th 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

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