Brooks
A name of English origin referring to small streams or brooks.
Name Census estimates that about 51,409 living Americans carry the first name Brooks. It sits at #67 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (97.1% of registrations). The average person named Brooks today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Brooks births was 2024 (4,854 babies). In terms of living bearers, it sits close to Caitlyn (51,275).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Brooks. 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 Brooks with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Brooks is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 1,605 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Brooks 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
51K
~ 1 in 6,667 Americans
Peak year
2024
4,854 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#67
Tracked since 1880
Census
Brooks in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 29,168 people with the first name Brooks, which placed it at #1,274 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
#1,274
National first-name rank
People counted
29K
29,168 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
9.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
89.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Brooks
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brooks is White at 89.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.6%) and Hispanic (3.2%). 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 Brooks 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 Brooks at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White89.7% · 26,164
- Two or more races3.6% · 1,051
- Hispanic or Latino3.2% · 926
- Black or African American2.6% · 750
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 142
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 135
Gender
Gender distribution for Brooks
Brooks leans heavily male at 97.1% of total registrations, but 1,605 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Brooks as a male name
- Ranked #67 in 2024
- 4,793 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (4,793 births)
Brooks as a female name
- Ranked #2,770 in 2024
- 61 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (80 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Brooks leans strongly male. 27,878 people counted with this name were male (95.6%), compared with 1,290 female bearers (4.4%).
Popularity
Brooks: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Brooks from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 22,274 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Brooks 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 Brooks during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Brooks' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. Texas, California, Georgia recorded the most babies named Brooks, while Vermont, New Mexico, Hawaii recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 937 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Brooks
The name Brooks has its origins in the Old English word "broc," which means a small stream or brook. This word can be traced back to the Proto-Germanic root "bruk," meaning a body of water. The name Brooks first emerged in England during the Anglo-Saxon period, roughly between the 5th and 11th centuries.
In the early days, the name Brooks was likely used as a descriptive surname for someone who lived near a small stream or brook. It later transitioned into a first name, particularly after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, when the use of surnames became more widespread.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Brooks can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, a comprehensive survey of landowners and property in England commissioned by William the Conqueror. The name appears as a surname in various spellings, such as "Broc," "Brock," and "Broke."
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the first name Brooks. One of the earliest was Brooks Adams (1848-1927), an American historian, political philosopher, and a descendant of the prominent Adams family, which included two U.S. presidents. He was known for his works exploring the influence of economic factors on historical events.
Another prominent figure was Brooks Atkinson (1894-1984), an American theatre critic who worked for the New York Times for over four decades. He was highly influential in shaping public opinion about Broadway productions and is regarded as one of the most respected theatre critics of his time.
In the world of literature, Brooks Robinson (born 1937) was an American author and poet. He is best known for his novel "An Installment of the Grossly Disturbed," which explored themes of mental illness and societal norms.
The name Brooks has also been associated with sports. Brooks Robinson (1937-2022) was a legendary American baseball player who spent his entire 23-year career with the Baltimore Orioles. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1983 and is widely considered one of the greatest defensive third basemen in the history of the game.
Another notable figure was Brooks Stevens (1911-1995), an American industrial designer who was widely recognized for his contributions to the design of household appliances, automobiles, and other consumer products. He is credited with coining the term "planned obsolescence" and was a pioneer in the field of industrial design.
While the name Brooks has its roots in Old English and has been used for centuries, it continues to be a popular choice for parents today, reflecting its enduring appeal and connection to the natural world.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Brooks
People
Brooks + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Brooks 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
Brooks: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Brooks?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 51,409 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Brooks 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 6,667 US residents.
Is Brooks a common name?
We classify Brooks as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 54,652 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Brooks most popular?
The single biggest year for Brooks was 2024, when 4,854 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Brooks 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 Brooks in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 29,168 people with the name Brooks, or 9.66 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,274 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 Brooks 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 Brooks?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Brooks leans strongly male. 27,878 people counted with this name were male (95.6%), compared with 1,290 female bearers (4.4%). 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 Brooks?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brooks is White at 89.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.6%) and Hispanic (3.2%). 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 Brooks most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Brooks in the 2020 Census, accounting for 89.7% (26,164 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 Brooks in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Brooks a male name?
Yes, 97.1% of people registered as Brooks in the SSA data are male. 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 Brooks still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Brooks 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 Brooks 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 called Brooks?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.