Head to head · Girls' names
Blake vs Brooke
#295 vs #313 in 2025 · both stepping back from its peak
Blake is a whisker ahead (#295 vs #313 in 2025) and both are stepping back from its peak. 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, Brooke leads 3 measures of 6; Blake leads 2.
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
- 1930s: Blake —, Brooke #3439 — Brooke higher
- 1940s: Blake —, Brooke #1340 — Brooke higher
- 1950s: Blake #5227, Brooke #1184 — Brooke higher
- 1960s: Blake #4351, Brooke #774 — Brooke higher
- 1970s: Blake #3340, Brooke #231 — Brooke higher
- 1980s: Blake #1747, Brooke #86 — Brooke higher
- 1990s: Blake #993, Brooke #54 — Brooke higher
- 2000s: Blake #1638, Brooke #49 — Brooke higher
- 2010s: Blake #519, Brooke #144 — Brooke higher
- 2020s: Blake #225, Brooke #281 — Blake higher
Brooke stood higher in 9 of 10 decades; Blake took the 2020s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Blake | Brooke |
|---|---|---|
| 1930s | — | #3439 |
| 1940s | — | #1340 |
| 1950s | #5227 | #1184 |
| 1960s | #4351 | #774 |
| 1970s | #3340 | #231 |
| 1980s | #1747 | #86 |
| 1990s | #993 | #54 |
| 2000s | #1638 | #49 |
| 2010s | #519 | #144 |
| 2020s | #225 | #281 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Blake
Either "black, dark" or "pale, fair" — the two readings compete
Old English had both blæc, "black or dark," and blāc, "pale, wan, bright." The two words drifted close together in Middle English spelling, and surname scholars have never been able to separate which families got Blake from which. So the name genuinely carries both senses, dark and fair, with no way to choose between them — an unusually neat piece of linguistic accident.
Old English blæc / blāc → Middle English Blake (byname) → Blake (English surname) → Blake (given name)
How it traveled
Blake is an English surname first, of the descriptive kind given to a person for their coloring — dark or fair, depending on which Old English root a given family's name came from. It was well established across England by the Middle Ages, and a branch of Blakes became one of the merchant families of Galway in Ireland.
Brooke
a small stream
The ordinary English noun, used first as a locative surname for people living near one and then as a given name. The word is Old English and its sense has not shifted at all.
broc → Brook → Brooke
How it traveled
There is a second brook in English and it is not related to the first. To brook something — to tolerate it, as in a delay that will not be brooked — comes from an Old English verb meaning to use or to enjoy, and it has nothing whatever to do with running water.
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
Blake
BLAYK
One syllable, rhyming with lake. Spelled the way it sounds in English, and the same for a girl or a boy.
- Blakey — Affectionate extension used within families and on sports teams; rarely written down.
- B — Initial-only informal address, common among friends and siblings.
Brooke
BRUUK
One syllable with the vowel of book rather than of boot. The final e is silent and changes nothing audible.
- Brookie — An affectionate ending; used in childhood more than after it.
- Bee — The initial sound alone; short and completely detached from the meaning.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Blake if you want…
- a name most people already know#295 in 2025, 1,035 babies that year
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 40% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 76% for Brooke
Choose Brooke if you want…
- a name fewer children share#313 in 2025 — brooke will almost certainly be the only one in school
- a name that feels very nowBrooke is stepping back from its peak
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
Blake
Strengths
- One syllable and one settled spelling — almost never misheard or misspelled by an English speaker.
- A documented English surname since the Middle Ages, and on American birth records since the nineteenth century.
- Used for boys and girls in near-equal numbers, so neither child is the unusual case.
To consider
- Because the split between boys and girls is close to even, a Blake on paper — a class list, an application — gives no signal either way. Some families like that; others find themselves correcting assumptions.
- The meaning cannot be pinned down, and the two candidates point in opposite directions. If a settled, quotable meaning matters to you, this name will not give you one.
- One hard syllable ending in a k sound offers very little to shorten. Expect Blake itself to do nearly all the work, with no ready pet form waiting in reserve.
Brooke
Strengths
- One syllable, unmistakable, and never needs repeating.
- The meaning is concrete, gentle and easy to explain.
- It has stayed in steady use rather than spiking and vanishing.
To consider
- Brook without the e is equally standard and the spelling gets queried.
- It is close enough to its recent peak to date its bearer.
- The record holds a few boys as well, and the boy is much the smaller side.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Blake
40%chance Blake feels dated by 2040
Blake sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
Brooke
76%chance Brooke feels dated by 2040
Brooke is coming down from a big peak (#43 in 2003). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
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 Blake and Brooke 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 Blake and Brooke?
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
Every list here names both Blake and Brooke — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Blake or Brooke — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Blake or Brooke?
- Blake, in 2025: Blake ranked #295 with 1,035 babies; Brooke ranked #313 with 972 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Blake or Brooke?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Blake moved down 73 places; Brooke moved down 77 places.
- Which is the older name, Blake or Brooke?
- Blake entered the US charts in 1951; Brooke entered the US charts in 1934. On the American record, Brooke is the older name.
- How many people are named Blake and Brooke?
- About 20,000 people named Blake are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 195,000 people named Brooke are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Blakes or Brookes in the classroom?
- Blake will almost certainly be the only one in school. Brooke will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. 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 Blake, Brooke and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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