Brook
A surname for someone who lived by a brook or stream.
The #7,240 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 67,017 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Brook comes from the Old English word beorh? No— in this case from Old English broc, meaning a brook or stream. It is a simple habitational surname, originally used for someone who lived near a watercourse. Medieval spellings recorded with prefixes like atte- and by- show the original sense of “at the brook.”
History
Early records show forms such as Atte-Broc and similar spellings, which later simplified to Brook and Brooke. Related surnames include Brooker and Brookman, and the plural forms Brooks and Brookes developed from the same base. The name has remained common in English-speaking countries, with Brooke also becoming established as a variant spelling.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The same Old English word behind Brook also appears in many English place-names, because small streams were such a common landmark.
From the historical record
“BROND. See Brand. BROOK. BROOKE. From residence near a stream. Its medieval forms are Ate- Broc, Atte-Broc, Attenbroke, &c., after- wards softened to A-Broke, and pluralised to Brooks and Brookes. Brooker and Brookman are simple variations of the same name. BROOKER. See Brook, and the ter- mination ER. BROOKMAN.…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom