Bristow

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A surname of English origin, carried by many people and sometimes applied to businesses or places
2. An English family name passed down through generations, borne by individuals across the English-speaking world
3. A common English surname that identifies a person's family line and appears in many countries

Etymology: Bristow is a surname that began as a place name: it was given to people who lived in Bristol, the city in southwest England. Medieval English surnames often worked this way, with a person's home or origin becoming the name their family kept, so a family settled in or near Bristol could be called "of Bristol" and that label gradually hardened into a fixed hereditary name. The spelling with "ow" is an old regional form of the city's name, and it is the form that survived as a surname. The modern city is spelled "Bristol," but the surname kept the older pattern, which is why the family name looks like a variant of the city rather than an exact copy of it. Families carrying it later spread across England and then to other English-speaking countries, so the name now turns up in many places far from the Bristol area.