What was the surname of the Brontë family?

The Brontë family had the surname Brontë. The name is most famously associated with the siblings Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë, whose novels became landmarks of nineteenth-century English literature, and with their brother Branwell and father, Patrick Brontë.

The family's name has an interesting history. Patrick was born with the surname Brunty or Prunty, an anglicised form of an Irish family name. After studying at Cambridge, he adopted the spelling Brontë, including the diaeresis over the final e. The precise reason for the change is uncertain, although proposed explanations include distancing himself from his Irish origins and associating the name with Horatio Nelson, who was Duke of Bronte in Sicily.

Brontë is therefore the standard family surname and the answer expected in a general quiz. Brunty is an earlier family spelling, not the surname by which the literary family is normally known. Bell is associated with the sisters' publishing pseudonyms: Charlotte used Currer Bell, Emily used Ellis Bell, and Anne used Acton Bell. The unaccented form Bronte is a common typographical variant.