Brush Variants: Brushe Current frequencies: GB 266, Ireland 118 GB frequency 1881: 268 Main GB location 1881: Worcestershire and Herefordshire; Surrey and Middlesex Main Irish location 1847–64: Tyrone; Down English: nickname for a brush maker, from Middle English brush (Old French brosse ‘brushwood’). Early bearers: Alice Brusch, 1327, John Brusche, Robert Brusshe, 1524 in Subsidy Rolls (Suffolk); Anthony Brush, 1551 in IGI (Painswick, Gloucestershire); Ric Brushe, 1571 in IGI (Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire); Jone Brush, 1610 in IGI (Reading, Berkshire); Richard Brush, 1665 in York Freeman’s Register. Brushe GB frequency 1881: 0 English: see Brush. Source: The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland, Oxford University Press, 2016 Every entry gives the frequency of that spelling of the name in the censuses of Great Britain in 1881 and 2011. For Ireland, equivalent frequency data is also given, insofar as it was available at the time of compilation.