Broc
Masculine · “badger”
A brock is a badger, and the word is Celtic rather than English. Old English borrowed it from the Britons already living there, which makes it one of a very small number of everyday English words that came from the language the Anglo-Saxons displaced.
How old is the name Broc?
Broc first appears in US birth records in 1947 — 78 years ago. The typical Broc alive today was born around 1997, making them about 28 years old. About 2,400 people named Broc are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Broc most popular?
Broc peaked in 1985, reaching #1050 nationally. See the whole 1985 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From brocc to Broc
The story of Broc
That borrowing is worth pausing on. The Anglo-Saxons took almost nothing from British Celtic — a handful of river names, a few words for landscape features, and this one — which is one of the reasons historians argue about what actually happened to the existing population. Brock is on the short list. It became a nickname for somebody grey-haired or somebody stubborn, then a surname, then in America a first name. Dropping the k, as this spelling does, removes the letter English normally adds after a short vowel and makes the badger invisible.
Meaning
badger
The Old English brocc is a loan from Brittonic, related to the modern Welsh broch. The word survives in English dialect and in place names, and the surname comes straight from it.
How the name formed
- brocc
- Brock
- Broc
Related forms: Broch
Pronouncing Broc
BROK
One syllable, rhyming with rock. Broc and Brock are said identically.
Nicknames for Broc
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1947
- Most boys named
- 2004105 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1050reached in 1985
- Change vs 2023
- 0.0%6 in 2024, from 6
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Broc in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Broch in Welsh — related form
Brocs among us
people named Broc are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Broc sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- One syllable and four letters, with no possible mispronunciation.
- The animal behind it is real and can be pointed at.
- It works well in front of long surnames, where fuller names get crowded.
- Brock is the standard spelling and will be written instead.
- Without the k the word looks incomplete to English readers.
- It reads clearly as a name of the second half of the twentieth century.
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Broc
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Brocs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,400 people named Broc are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Broc in 2025?
- Broc is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Broc with classmates?
- Broc will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More B names
The most-given names starting with B, all years combined.
Brian#339 · Benjamin#11 · Brandon#261 · Bryan#336 · Bruce#536 · Billy#1068 · Bobby#1097 · Bradley#403
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Broc? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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