Brooke
Masculine · “a small stream”
Brooke is given to girls far more often — 198,491 girls against 2,030 boys since 1880. See Brooke as a girl 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 1914 — 111 years ago. The typical Brooke alive today was born around 1973, making them about 52 years old. About 1,600 people named Brooke are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Brooke most popular?
Brooke peaked in 1970, reaching #1051 nationally. See the whole 1970 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
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
- 1914
- Most boys named
- 197356 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1051reached in 1970
- Change vs 2017
- −28.6%5 in 2019, from 7
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.
Brookes among us
people named Brooke 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
Brooke 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, 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.
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What they receive
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Brooke
Masculine
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 1,600 people named Brooke are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Brooke in 2025?
- Brooke is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Brooke with classmates?
- Brooke 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 Brooke? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Brooke and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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