 In other cases the surname is a variant form of the surname "Burnhouse", which originated as habitational name, derived from a place name made up of the word elements "burn" and "house".In other cases the surname "Burns" originated as a nickname meaning "burn house".In other cases, the surname "Burns" is an Anglicised form of the Gaelic "Ó Broin", which means "descendant of "Bran"".