Brooks
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Meaning
surname, "dweller by the brook"
The story
Brooks means just what it sounds like: an English surname for someone who lived beside the brook, water running past the family door. As a first name it spent the better part of a century as a low murmur in American records, never absent and never fashionable, kept alive by families who liked its clipped, gentlemanly sound. Baseball fans will always hear it as Brooks Robinson, the Orioles third baseman whose impossible glove made him a legend. The name's real movement is recent: it edged upward in the 2000s, climbed steeply through the 2010s, and the 2020s stand as its best decade on record, lifted by the broad affection for single-syllable surname names. The water imagery does no harm either: calm, steady, always moving forward.
How popular is Brooks around the world?
In the United States, 27,262 babies were named Brooks between 2020 and 2025.
Brooks is on the official records of the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Scotland, England and Wales and Ireland.
United States
1 in 800
In the United States, 27,262 babies were named Brooks between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Brooks peaked in the 2020s.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Canada
1 in 960
In Canada, 382 boys named Brooks were born in 2024, the 71st most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
New Zealand
1 in 2,200
In New Zealand, 26 boys named Brooks were registered in 2025.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from New Zealand birth registrations, grouped by registration year; any name under 10 in a year is excluded at source. Shares divide by Stats NZ’s count of births registered to mothers living in New Zealand, under 1% below the registry’s own count. Source: Department of Internal Affairs (New Zealand), baby name popularity over time
Scotland
1 in 2,500
In Scotland, 18 boys named Brooks were registered in 2024, the 227th most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Births registered in Scotland; different spellings count separately but accents are merged at source, and any spelling under 3 in total is suppressed. Source: National Records of Scotland, babies' first names
England and Wales
1 in 8,900
In England and Wales, 66 boys named Brooks were born in 2025, the 585th most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales
Ireland
1 in 18,000
In Ireland, 3 boys named Brooks were born in 2025, the 829th most common name among boys that year.
The count never rose above 3 in a year, too few to chart.
Exact registered spellings from Irish vital statistics; any name under 3 in a year is withheld at source, and accented spellings (fadas) are recorded reliably only from 2018. Source: Central Statistics Office (Ireland), Irish babies' names
South Australia
last on record 2015
Brooks is not on the 2017 record for South Australia, whose registry publishes every name given that year.
The count never rose above 1 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names
Not on the record in Spain, Mexico City, Argentina, Puerto Rico and Poland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on the Chile record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 5 registrations in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the Montevideo record for 1940 to 2011: that registry withholds nothing, so this spelling was not given there in those years. Not on the France record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 20 births in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the Austria record for 1984 to 2025: Statistik Austria publishes every first name down to a single birth, so this name was not given there in those years (before 2010 the record covers babies with Austrian citizenship only). Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
When you meet Brooks
Most people given the name Brooks in the United States are children or teenagers today. The name belongs to this generation.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
Keep exploring
Names like Brooks · Names that go with Brooks · Middle names for Brooks
The Brooks deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Brooks truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Brooks fits with your family’s names and surname.
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