Head to head · Boys' names
Beau vs Brooks
#60 vs #64 in 2025 · both climbing the charts fast
Beau is a whisker ahead (#60 vs #64 in 2025) and both are climbing the charts fast. The records will not split these two — sound, story and your own last name will.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Beau leads 5 measures of 6; Brooks leads 1.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Beau —, Brooks #832 — Brooks higher
- 1890s: Beau —, Brooks #725 — Brooks higher
- 1900s: Beau —, Brooks #693 — Brooks higher
- 1910s: Beau —, Brooks #781 — Brooks higher
- 1920s: Beau —, Brooks #839 — Brooks higher
- 1930s: Beau #3776, Brooks #853 — Brooks higher
- 1940s: Beau #3108, Brooks #779 — Brooks higher
- 1950s: Beau #2323, Brooks #741 — Brooks higher
- 1960s: Beau #1195, Brooks #723 — Brooks higher
- 1970s: Beau #494, Brooks #707 — Beau higher
- 1980s: Beau #308, Brooks #540 — Beau higher
- 1990s: Beau #415, Brooks #678 — Beau higher
- 2000s: Beau #437, Brooks #638 — Beau higher
- 2010s: Beau #237, Brooks #260 — Beau higher
- 2020s: Beau #84, Brooks #75 — Brooks higher
Brooks stood higher in 10 of 15 decades; Brooks took the 2020s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Beau | Brooks |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | — | #832 |
| 1890s | — | #725 |
| 1900s | — | #693 |
| 1910s | — | #781 |
| 1920s | — | #839 |
| 1930s | #3776 | #853 |
| 1940s | #3108 | #779 |
| 1950s | #2323 | #741 |
| 1960s | #1195 | #723 |
| 1970s | #494 | #707 |
| 1980s | #308 | #540 |
| 1990s | #415 | #678 |
| 2000s | #437 | #638 |
| 2010s | #237 | #260 |
| 2020s | #84 | #75 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Beau
- Canada#50
Brooks
- Canada#71
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Beau
Handsome, beautiful (French)
bellus → bel → beau → Beau
How it traveled
The root is Latin bellus, "pretty, fine," which became bel and beau in Old French. English took the word in during the late seventeenth century to describe a fashionable man, and later a woman's suitor — a sense that survives in older novels and in the plural, beaux.
Brooks
Of the brooks — from a family that lived beside a stream
The root is Old English brōc, 'brook, stream'. The final -s marks the surname sense 'of the brook(s)', the same possessive ending seen in Wells, Rivers and Banks.
brōc (Old English) → Brook → Brooke → Brooks
How it traveled
The word behind it is very old: brōc was already Old English for a small stream, and medieval English records show families identified by the water they lived near — atte Broke, del Brok — which hardened into the hereditary surnames Brook, Brooke and Brooks. Those surnames traveled to North America with English settlers and, in the American habit of promoting family names to given names, Brooks began appearing as a first name for boys.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Beau
BOH
Rhymes with go. It sounds exactly like the bow of bow and arrow, and like the name Bo, so the spelling usually has to be given aloud.
- Bo — A separate spelling of the same sound, used informally for a Beau and also given on its own as a full name.
- Beauregard — Runs the other way: the longer American name that Beau has historically served as the short form of, now rarely used itself.
Brooks
BROOKS
One syllable, rhyming with books. There is no competing pronunciation in English, and the spelling gives it away on sight.
- Brook — An informal trimming of the final -s; also stands alone as a given name in English, more often for girls in the Brooke spelling.
- Brooksie — A family diminutive, used at home rather than on paperwork.
Who has carried each name
Beau
Beau Bridges (b. 1941) — Emmy-collecting actor of a famous acting family
Brooks
No documented entry for Brooks yet.
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Beau if you want…
- a name on the way upup 49 places on the charts in five years
- a newer arrivalBeau entered the US charts in 1932
Choose Brooks if you want…
- a long American recordBrooks was already in use when US records began in 1880
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Beau
Strengths
- One syllable and one pronunciation — anyone who hears it can say it back correctly.
- The spelling is already familiar to English speakers from the word itself and from beaux, so it reads on paper without instruction.
- Needs no nickname and takes none: it works unchanged from a nursery door to a business card.
To consider
- In English, beau still carries its older sense of a sweetheart or suitor. Most people never think of it; a few will remark on it.
- Because Beau and Bo sound identical, expect a lifetime of spelling it out over the phone and on forms.
- The name is climbing quickly. A Beau born now will likely be the only one in his class, but may meet several others by adulthood.
Brooks
Strengths
- Spelled the way an ordinary English word is spelled, so most people get it right on the first try after hearing it once.
- One syllable — easy to say, easy to call across a yard, and it sits cleanly in front of longer middle and last names.
- Documented as a given name for boys for well over a century, so the recent wave is a revival rather than an invention.
To consider
- Brooke, the near-identical spelling, is used mainly for girls in English. Expect the occasional form that comes back with an -e on the end.
- The final -s invites mix-ups: people may hear it as a surname, ask for a first name after it, or reverse the two on forms.
- It is climbing quickly. A boy named Brooks now will likely be the only one in his class, but may meet more of them as he grows up.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Beau and Brooks in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Beau and Brooks?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
- Distinctly American names
- America's top 100 names right now
- Names at their all-time peak, right now
- One-syllable names: said in a single beat
- all guides
Every list here names both Beau and Brooks — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Beau or Brooks — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Beau or Brooks?
- Beau, in 2025: Beau ranked #60 with 5,165 babies; Brooks ranked #64 with 4,877 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Beau or Brooks?
- Beau. Over the last five years Beau moved up 49 places; Brooks moved up 28 places.
- Which is the older name, Beau or Brooks?
- Beau entered the US charts in 1932; Brooks was already in use when US records began in 1880. On the American record, Brooks is the older name.
- How many people are named Beau and Brooks?
- About 64,000 people named Beau are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 54,500 people named Brooks are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Beaus or Brookss in the classroom?
- Beau will almost certainly be the only one in school. Brooks will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Beau, Brooks and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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