Submitted Surname Revision History

English (Middlesex) nickname from an unrecorded Middle English burre-dokke ‘burdock’ the name of a prickly plant with burrs and dock-like leaves (usually Arctium lappa) common on waste ground. It may have been given to someone of a prickly temperament or perhaps to someone with a hoarse voice.

Possibly also an Americanized form of Dutch Boerdijk, a habitational name from a settlement named Boerdijk composed of boer ‘peasant farmer countryman’ and dijk ‘dike’.