Burnett surname meaning

Burnett is chiefly a Scottish and Irish surname from Old French burnete, a diminutive related to brun, “brown” or “dark brown.” It may have been a descriptive nickname for a dark-complexioned person. The same word also named a high-quality dark-brown wool cloth, so a metonymic occupational route for a maker or seller is possible. Burnet and Burnette are close forms, while Barnett may have contributed altered spellings in some records. The catalog uses nickname for the strongest route, with likely rather than high confidence because cloth trade and variant histories cannot be separated for every family.