Branson

Branson is an English surname used as a given name. A documented surname explanation connects it with places such as Branston and related forms, built from the personal name Brant and an Old English word for a settlement. The often-repeated “son of the raven” gloss is therefore not a secure universal meaning for Branson.

The surname is familiar through entrepreneur Richard Branson, and Branson, Missouri, provides a separate American place association. Its ending makes it sound at home beside Hudson or Carson, although those names have different histories. Bran is an available short form. Parents honoring a Branson family line may want to investigate its own records rather than infer ancestry or a literal bird meaning from the modern spelling alone.