Family name origins & meanings
- North German (Brüsehaber) : associated particularly with the area to the north east of Bremen, this is of uncertain etymology. It may be an occupational name for an oat farmer, from Middle Low German haber, haver, if brüs denoted a particular variety of the plant. However, if the first element derives from bross, bröss ‘brittle’, ‘crumbly’, the name would have been a derisive nickname for an oat farmer. Brechenmacher proposes the gloss ‘bruise the oats’ as a metonymic occupational name for a miller.