Brownrigg and its variations seem to be derived from an Old English place name from brun meaning brown and hrycg meaning ridge. "Rigg" also is often used to describe a cultivated field. So families that lived on the Brown Ridge and by the Brown Field might have both adopted Brownrigg as a surname. Variations of the name are Brownrigg, Brownrig Brownridge, Burnrig, Brownrick, Brounerike; Brunridge, Broonrigge, Brownerygge, etc. A history of the Brownridge variation of the surname at http://www.brownridge.com states that the name is found in East Lothian, Scotland, where they were seated from very early times – as early as 1089. The only validated record located by this researcher thus far is the marriage for a Marioun Brounrig in 1599 near Edinburgh, Scotland. As early as 1228 the village of Brunerigg/Brownrigg is mentioned in the records of Holm Cultram Abbey, near Abbeytown in West Cumbria, England. There are no people named Brownrigg in the Abbey records. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/source.aspx?pubid=399 In 1332 a William de Brounrig is located on the Cumberland Subsidy Roll. A search of available extracted IGI birth and marriage records for variations of Brownrigg, (which are available at http://www.familysearch.org) reveals Brownrigg families well established in several areas of the England during the 1500’s. The dates below indicate the earliest record for each given name: Cumberland: William 1572; Christopher 1575; John 1575; Cuthbert 1792 Devon: Margerye m 1572 Lancashire: Christopher 1565; Thomas 1565; John 1569; Roger 1571; William 1573 London: John 1567; Robert 1579; Peter 1581; Giles 1583; James 1588; Stafford: Edward 1577; Simon 1588; Suffolk: Robert 1579 Surry: Robertus 1581 Sussex: Willm 1573 Yorkshire: Mychaelis 1539; Johanis 1579; Ambrosie 1582; William 1595 Worchester: John 1582 Scotland, Edinburgh: Marioun Brounrig m 1599 Other available records begin in Ireland by 1676, the American Colonies in 1723; India in 1779, Caribbean Islands in 1794, Canada 1830’s (descendant submitted records), Denmark 1840, Africa 1864, as Brownriggs migrated and engaged in military and shipping interests. One value of the Brownrigg DNA project will be to determine if these Brownrigg/Brownridge lines originate with a single common ancestor or descend from several different early ancestors who adopted the Brownrigg name?