BRADLEY MILLER

Transferred use of the surname, in origin a local name from any of the numerous places in England so called from Old English brād ‘broad’ + lēah ‘wood, clearing’. The most famous American bearer of this surname was General Omar N. Bradley (1893–1981). As a given name it used to be found mainly in North America but of late has come into fashion in Britain.

English and Scottish: occupational name for a miller. The standard modern vocabulary word represents the northern Middle English term, an agent derivative of mille ‘mill’, reinforced by Old Norse mylnari (see Milner). In southern, western, and central England Millward (literally, ‘mill keeper’) was the usual term. The American surname has absorbed many cognate surnames from other European languages, for example French Meunier, Dumoulin, Demoulins, and Moulin; German Mueller; Dutch Molenaar; Italian Molinaro; Spanish Molinero; Hungarian Molnár; Slavic Mlinar, etc.