Brooke
Feminine · “a small stream”
Brooke is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 198,491 girls against 2,030 boys since 1880. See Brooke as a boy name
The e on the end is what turns a common noun into a name. Brook is a stream; Brooke is a family that lived beside one, and English has used a final e to mark that difference in surnames for centuries. The letter is not decoration and it is not modern.
How old is the name Brooke?
Brooke first appears in US birth records in 1934 — 91 years ago. The typical Brooke alive today was born around 1998, making them about 27 years old. About 195,000 people named Brooke are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Brooke most popular?
Brooke peaked in 2003, reaching #43 nationally. Today it ranks #313, 270 places below that high. See the whole 2003 chart.
Where it comes from
From broc to Brooke
The story of Brooke
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. The two words converged in sound and spelling by accident and have been sitting on top of each other ever since, which is why the verb now sounds archaic and slightly odd: it has been crowded out of its own word by a stream. English does this more often than it admits, and the results are usually invisible until somebody looks.
Meaning
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.
How the name formed
- broc
- Brook
- Brooke
Pronouncing Brooke
BRUUK
One syllable with the vowel of book rather than of boot. The final e is silent and changes nothing audible.
Nicknames for Brooke
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
- 1934
- Most girls named
- 19966,724 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #43reached in 2003
- Change vs 2023
- −5.9%972 in 2025, from 1,033
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.
Brooke in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York, Texas.
Brookes among us
people named Brooke are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 1,654 born in 2025 was named Brooke
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Diana test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Brooke's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Diana climbed just as high around 1946, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Diana's path sketches the road Brooke is walking now.
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 scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Brooke is headed
Brooke should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Brooke beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Brooke in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- 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.
- 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.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Brooke to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Brooke
Feminine · #313 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Brookes are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 195,000 people named Brooke are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Brooke in 2025?
- Brooke ranks #313 among US girl names in 2025, with 972 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Brooke?
- About 1 in every 1,654 US girls born in 2025 was named Brooke — 972 in all.
- Will my child share the name Brooke with classmates?
- Brooke will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Brooke
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Catherine#313 · Morgan#312 · Tessa#311 · Amina#315 · Elodie#310 · Colette#316 · Harlow#309 · Gabriela#317
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Brooke? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Brooke and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Or jump into a head-to-head
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Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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