Bruun is a surname of North Germanic origin. The meaning is brown (brun in Danish, Swedish and Norwegian). In Denmark, the name is known to have been in use since the 13th century in the form Bruun. Other spelling variants are Bruhn and Brun. Today, c. 0.1% of the population carries Bruun as their surname or middle name. The name is also in use in Norway (c. 0.02% of the population), the Faroe Islands and the other Nordic Countries (even less frequent).
In the Danish translation of Peanuts, Charlie Brown is called Søren Brun.
As of 2007, the numbers of bearers of the surnames Bruun, Bruhn and Brun in the Nordic Countries are:
The infrequent occurrences of Bruun as a surname outside Scandinavia, mainly Germany, Great Britain, Canada and the U.S., is due to immigration from the Nordic Countries; in Germany possibly as a variation over the given name Bruno.
Anders Bruun (1979 -), a Swedish bandy player
Angelo Bruun (1898–1956), a Danish actor
Anton Frederik Bruun (1901–1961), Danish oceanographer and ichthyologist
Antti Bruun (1979 -), Finnish ice hockey player
Bertel Bruun (1937–2011), a Danish-American ornithologist and illustrator
Bertel Kehlet Bruun - (1964 -), a Danish-German landscape architect
Birgitte Bruun (1953 -), a Danish actress
Caius Andreas Bruun (1967 -), a Finnish artist photographer
Christian Bruun (1831–1906), aDanish historian and head of the Danish Royal Library
Malte Conrad Bruun (1755–1826), a Danish-French geographer and journalist
Daniel Bruun (1856–1931), a Danish military officer, archaeologist and author
Edgar Bruun (1905–1985), a Norwegian Olympic race walker
Else Marie Bruun (1911–2007), a Danish classical violinist
Erik Bruun (1926 -), a Finnish designer
Geoffrey Bruun (1899–1988), a Canadian-American historian
Hans H. Bruun, a Danish-British engineer
Hans Henrik K. Bruun (1965 -), a Danish-Swedish ecologist
Hans Henrik R. Bruun (1946 -), a Danish sociologist and diplomat
Helge Gösta Bruun (1897-?), a Swedish botanist
Henrik H. Bruun, a Finnish entomologist
Hugo Bruun (1888–1962), a Danish actor
Kai Aage Bruun (1899–1971), a Danish composer and state radio administrator
Kim Malthe-Bruun (1923–1945), a mythical Danish resistance fighter against the Nazi occupation
Laurids Valdemar Bruun (1864–1935), a Danish author
Mads Pagh Bruun (1809–1884), a Danish politician
Morten Bruun (1965 -), a Danish football player
Patrick M. Bruun (1920–2007), a Finnish historian
Per Gunnar Bruun (1944 -), a Swedish musician
Peter Daniel Bruun (1796–1864), a Danish politician
Peter Andreas Holck Bruun (1977-), a Danish social psychologist
Poul Bruun, a Danish music producer
Staffan Bruun (1955-), a Finnish author
Thomas Christopher Bruun (1750–1834), a Danish philologist and author
Charles Kristian Bonnycastle Bruun (1979–), a Canadian-Finnish actor
Alice Adelaïde Brun (1904–1990) - Danish civil servant, member of the Boards of Directors of the World Bank 1962-1964
Ane Brun (1976 -) - Norwegian singer/songwriter
Charles Brun (1866–1919) - Danish politician
Constantin Brun (1746–1836) - German-Danish merchant and one of the richest Danes of his day
Eske Brun (1904–1987) - Danish governor in Greenland during World War II
Friederike Brun (1765–1835) German-Danish author and art patron, wife of Constantin Brun
Johan Nordahl Brun (1745–1816) - Norwegian poet and bishop
Johanne Marie Emilie Brun (1874–1954) - Danish opera singer
Viggo Brun (1885–1978) - Norwegian mathematician
