Britzius - Name

This is one of the rarer patronymic forms of the old Pruscian locational name "Britz", which derives from the German town of the same name. The original meaning is held to be a development of the Norse-Viking pre 7th Century "brdbg" meaning "the bridge". There is also a view that it could be a form of Britain (or Breton), tribal mercenaries employed by occupying Roman armies of the pre 5th Century, during their Conquest of Gaul. There are many variant spelling forms of the name including Britzen, Pritzen, Britzke, and von Brietzke, the baptismal or Church recordings dating from the early 17th Century. These include Nicholas and Elizabeth (nee Hess) Britzius of Beuren Cochem, Rhieinland, on September 14th 1727, and Theobald and Charlotte (nee Gerlach) Britzius of Bistersheid, Pfalz, Bayern, on March 27th 1788. The Coat of Arms associated with the name has a red knight's spur on a white field, the Crest being six ostrich feathers, alternately red and white. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Simon Britzius, which was dated May 6th 1636, a christening witness at Kluesserath, Rheinland, Germany, during the reign of Ferdinand 11, Holy Roman (German) Emperor, 1619 - 1637. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.