Before it was a name brocket was a word. The word was originally northern French, but although it came from the word, the name was originally English.

The word left northern France for England; we find it in Anglo-Norman, British Latin and Middle English but not in middle or Modern French. Its 'young deer' meaning appeared in England soon after the Norman conquest in 1066—possibly a little before—but would have been current in northern France long before.

The name is first recorded in Lincolnshire 1207. With a first name Osbert the man would not have been Norman. Given the way nicknames, bynames and surnames first emerged, Broket was probably first being used as a name at least by 1140-60, a generation or two before Osbert.

Unlike the word, the name didn't evolve from an earlier Brok or anything else—with an exception to prove the rule. At first not all children inherited it; the byname didn't always become a surname. Unrelated men in different areas were called by it. This doesn't preclude most Brokets living now from being related, since down the centuries most male lines died out.

Some received the name by adoption like William Borthwick; two adopted it themselves: Sir Charles Nall-Cain and Henry Brock; a third did so by Royal Licence: Stanes Brocket Chamberlayne.

For more on the word, see Etymology. For more on the name, see Proper Noun.

Note: This website spells the word 'brocket', except in direct quotes from sources which spell it differently. Similarly, as a place name it is almost always given a c. The surname is spelt 'Broket' when no specific variant is being referred to—as the lowest common denominator.