Bruin

From a medieval Dutch nickname meaning "brown", from Middle Dutch bruun "brown", making this a cognate of German Braun, English Brown and Italian Bruno. In some cases this may be a patronymic of the given name Bruin, a Dutch form of Bruno.

More common is the related surname de Bruin (also spelled de Bruine, de Bruijn, De Bruyn and de Bruyne), which uses the definite article and means "the brown". See also Bruins.