Brook
Brook was the 4373rd most popular name for girls in 2025, given to 32 babies. Its best year was 1980, when it ranked 503rd with 405 babies. Over the last ten years it has moved down 1,846 places. More babies were named Brook in the 1990s than in any other decade.
Meaning (as Brooke) brook, stream · Old English
- Rank in 2025
- #4,373 girls, down 817 places since 2020
- Babies in 2025
- 32girls
- Girls and boys
- 68% girls, 32% boys2021–2025
- Peak year
- 1980405 babies
- Total since 1880
- 14,021babies recorded
What does the name Brook mean?
Brook is a spelling of Brooke, pronounced the same way, so it shares Brooke's meaning and origin.
Brooke is an English surname for someone who lived by a brook, from Old English brōc, "stream"; Bardsley calls it one of the great local surnames of Yorkshire. As a girl's name it is a transfer from the surname, and Wiktionary notes it became fairly popular from the 1970s, helped in the 1980s by the actress Brooke Shields. Brook and Brooks are surnames from the same word. Brooklyn, by contrast, is a separate place name, from Dutch Breukelen.
brōc (Old English, “brook, stream”)
How sure is this? Well established.
Related names: Brook, Brooklyn, Brooks.
See also: English names, names that mean water.
Sources for this meaning
- Wiktionary, entry 'Brooke', Wiktionary (Wikimedia Foundation)
- Charles W. Bardsley, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with Special American Instances (1901), s.v. 'Brook', Henry Frowde (public domain; Internet Archive scan)
Brook popularity since 1880
| Year | Rank (girls) | Rank (boys) | Babies (girls) | Babies (boys) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | #4,373 | #5,896 | 32 | 15 |
| 2020 | #3,556 | #6,024 | 42 | 14 |
| 2010 | #1,798 | #4,380 | 114 | 22 |
| 2000 | #811 | #2,747 | 279 | 33 |
| 1990 | #870 | #1,568 | 225 | 53 |
| 1980 | #503 | #938 | 405 | 91 |
| 1970 | #1,390 | #779 | 75 | 112 |
| 1960 | #3,716 | #1,252 | 12 | 39 |
| 1950 | #3,693 | #2,452 | 9 | 10 |
| 1940 | — | #3,508 | — | 5 |
| 1930 | — | — | — | — |
| 1920 | — | — | — | — |
| 1910 | — | — | — | — |
| 1900 | — | — | — | — |
| 1890 | — | — | — | — |
| 1880 | — | — | — | — |
How popular is Brook, counting every spelling?
Brook is a spelling of Brooke, a name family that ranked #329 for girls in 2025 once every spelling is counted together, compared with #4,373 for Brook on its own. Together these spellings went to 1,004 girls in 2025.
| Spelling | Babies 2025 | Official rank | Babies 2021–2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brooke | 972 | #313 | 5,371 |
| Brook | 32 | #4,373 | 157 |
Spellings count together when they sound the same in American English and are used for the same sex; nicknames and forms that sound different (such as Theo and Theodore) are kept apart. How we group spellings.
How many kids will share the name Brook?
32 of the 3,606,400 babies born in the US in 2025 were named Brook (0.01 per 1,000 births). For a girl named Brook born in 2025, the chance that another child with the same name is in a class of 20 children the same age is under 1 in 50. If every grade liked the name as much as the 2025 babies do, only about one elementary school in 261 (of 430 pupils) would have a child named Brook.
Shares of all registered births (NCHS); classes assumed to be children born the same year. How we estimate this.
How old are people named Brook?
About 10,300 people born in the US named Brook are alive today, with a median age of 33; half are between 25 and 45. That makes Brook mostly worn by adults in their thirties to fifties.
Babies given the name each year (SSA) times the share of that birth year still alive (SSA life tables). Counts people born in the US only. Method.
Brook by state
How common Brook was among girls born in each state in 2021–2025. In 50 states fewer than five girls a year got the name, too few for SSA to publish, so those states show as zero.
Names with a similar history
These names rose and fell in step with Brook: their share of US girls followed the most similar curve since 1880. If you like Brook, they share its era and feel.
Brook is also a nickname for Brooklyn.
Questions about the name Brook
What does Brook mean?
Brook is a spelling of Brooke, which means “brook, stream” (Old English origin). Certainty: well established.
How popular is the name Brook?
Brook was the 4373rd most popular name for girls in 2025, given to 32 babies. Its best year was 1980, when it ranked 503rd with 405 babies. Over the last ten years it has moved down 1,846 places. More babies were named Brook in the 1990s than in any other decade.
Is Brook a boy or girl name?
In 2021–2025, 68% girls, 32% boys given the name Brook in the US.
Where is Brook most popular?
In 2021–2025, Brook was most common in California (0.03 per 1,000 girls).