There are several villages in Scotland named "Brackenrig", including in Lanarkshire, Ayrshire, Glasgow, and others.
"Brackenrig" referred to plowed fields with ridges and ferns, prolific in this area.
The suffix derives from rigg (meaning "ridge", from the Old Norse hryggr).
Early spellings had several variations including Brecenrigg, Brecenrig, Breckinrigg, Breconrig, Breconnrigg; and these evolved to Brackenridge, Breakenridge, Breakinridge, Breckenridge, Breccinridge, Breckenridge, and others.
[1][2] At the time of the British Census of 1881,[3] the frequency of the surname Breckenridge was highest in Ayrshire (66.2 times the British average), followed by Haddingtonshire, Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, Stirlingshire, Pembrokeshire, Argyll, Kirkcudbrightshire, Edinburghshire and Dunbartonshire.