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BROADHURST Family History

This interesting surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a habitational name from a minor place so called, perhaps from Broadhurst Manor Farm in Horsted Keynes, Sussex. The placename is derived from the Middle English (1200 - 1500) "brode", from the Olde English pre 7th Century "brad", meaning broad, given as a nickname for a stout or fat person, and the Olde English "hurst", a wooded hill. The first element could also be a descriptive term for the broad wood. In the Middle Ages, to call a person broad or fat was considered to be a compliment, as it was looked on as a sign of grandeur.