Burges, Burgess. Simon de Borgeis, Normandy, 1195. Ralph Burgensis, 1198.
Burgess is an old way of spelling Burges.
Burgoyne, Burgon, Burgin. De Bourgoyne, probably Gothic, from Burgundy. In 1083 Walter Burgundiensis, or Borgoin, held lands in Devon.
Burke. Vide Burgh.
Burley. Roger de Burlie, Normandy, 1198. "White Burley," Kentucky.
Burnett. The Scottish form of Burnard. From Roger de Burnard. The name became Burnet in 1409. Bishop Burnet of Salisbury, celebrated writer, is of this gens.
Burney, a form of Berney. Vide Berney. The name of a well-known family in Kentucky. James G. Birney was the first Free-Soil candidate for the Presidency.
Burr. Robert, Roger, and Peter Burre occur in Normandy, 1180. Gilbert le Bor, England, 1227. Aaron Burr was a conspicuous and dramatic figure in the early history of Kentucky. Professor Shaler, the eminent Harvard professor, writing of Aaron Burr's expeditionary project, says that the Kentuckians "had inherited the spirit of the Elizabethan English"; and that the mass of the Kentucky people were always "filibusterish." There is not a decade in their history—he adds—that we do not find some evidence of this motive, to wit, "a natural hunger for adventure."
Burrell, or Borel. Normandy, 1180. Burrells, Burrill.