Brooklyn
From an English surname originating from the Dutch town meaning "shattered land".
Name Census estimates that about 123,263 living Americans carry the first name Brooklyn. It sits at #108 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly female name (98.5% of registrations). The average person named Brooklyn today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Brooklyn births was 2011 (7,257 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Brooklyn. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Brooklyn with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Brooklyn is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 1,818 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Brooklyn is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 15 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
123K
~ 1 in 2,781 Americans
Peak year
2011
7,257 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#108
Tracked since 1972
Census
Brooklyn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 96,523 people with the first name Brooklyn, which placed it at #565 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#565
National first-name rank
People counted
97K
96,523 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
32.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
68.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Brooklyn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brooklyn is White at 68.3%. The next largest groups are Black (13.1%) and Hispanic (9.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Brooklyn described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Brooklyn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White68.3% · 65,951
- Black or African American13.1% · 12,680
- Hispanic or Latino9.3% · 8,934
- Two or more races7.6% · 7,294
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 833
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 831
Gender
Gender distribution for Brooklyn
Brooklyn leans heavily female at 98.5% of total registrations, but 1,818 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Brooklyn as a male name
- Ranked #2,282 in 2024
- 62 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2009 (120 births)
Brooklyn as a female name
- Ranked #108 in 2024
- 2,487 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2011 (7,178 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Brooklyn leans strongly female. 95,196 people counted with this name were female (98.6%), compared with 1,327 male bearers (1.4%).
Popularity
Brooklyn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Brooklyn from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 61,033 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Brooklyn by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Brooklyn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Brooklyns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Brooklyn, while Vermont, District of Columbia, Rhode Island recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 2,401 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Brooklyn
The name Brooklyn is an English given name that originated as a toponymic surname derived from the borough of Brooklyn in New York City. The name Brooklyn itself is derived from the Dutch word "Breuckelen," which means "broken land" or "marshland."
The earliest recorded use of the name Brooklyn dates back to the late 19th century, when it started to gain popularity as a given name, particularly in the United States. The name was likely inspired by the growing prominence of the Borough of Brooklyn, which was once an independent city before becoming part of New York City in 1898.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Brooklyn was Brooklyn Dodgers baseball player Brooklyn "Bucky" Harris, who was born in 1896 and played for the Dodgers from 1919 to 1923. Another notable early bearer of the name was Brooklyn Denny, an American vaudeville performer and actress born in 1906.
In the 20th century, the name Brooklyn became more widely used, though it remained relatively uncommon. One of the most famous people with the name Brooklyn was Brooklyn Dodgers baseball player Brooklyn "Babe" Cavedert, who played for the team from 1923 to 1935.
Another notable individual with the name Brooklyn was Brooklyn Roosevelt, the daughter of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his wife Eleanor Roosevelt. Brooklyn Roosevelt was born in 1924 and was a writer and activist who worked for various humanitarian causes throughout her life.
In the latter half of the 20th century, the name Brooklyn gained wider popularity, particularly among parents seeking unique and unconventional names. One of the most famous modern-day individuals with the name Brooklyn is Brooklyn Beckham, the son of famous soccer player David Beckham and fashion designer Victoria Beckham, who was born in 1999.
While the name Brooklyn was initially associated with the borough of the same name in New York City, it has since transcended its geographical origins and has become a popular given name around the world, appreciated for its unique sound and cultural associations.
People
Brooklyn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Brooklyn as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with B
Other first names starting with B with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Brooklyn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Brooklyn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 123,263 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Brooklyn going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 2,781 US residents.
Is Brooklyn a common name?
We classify Brooklyn as "Common". It ranks above 99.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 124,665 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Brooklyn most popular?
The single biggest year for Brooklyn was 2011, when 7,257 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Brooklyn is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Brooklyn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 96,523 people with the name Brooklyn, or 31.96 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #565 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Brooklyn in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Brooklyn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Brooklyn leans strongly female. 95,196 people counted with this name were female (98.6%), compared with 1,327 male bearers (1.4%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Brooklyn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brooklyn is White at 68.3%. The next largest groups are Black (13.1%) and Hispanic (9.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Brooklyn most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Brooklyn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 68.3% (65,951 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Brooklyn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Brooklyn a female name?
Yes, 98.5% of people registered as Brooklyn in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Brooklyn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Brooklyn in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Brooklyn can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are named Brooklyn?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.