Brooker
A surname meaning “one who lives by a brook,” though it may also sometimes reflect the occupational word broker.
The #6,774 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 62,010 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Brooker is usually explained as an English habitational or topographic surname from brook, meaning a stream, plus the agent suffix -er: in effect, “the person by the brook.” Some older writers also linked it to broker, an agent or middleman in business, so in a few cases the name may have developed from that occupation instead. The Brook-derived explanation is the standard one in the historical sources consulted.
History
Lower treats Brooker as a straightforward variation of Brook, and Bardsley likewise glosses it as “the brooker,” meaning someone who lived by a brook. Because Brook and related forms were common medieval surname types, Brooker appears to have arisen independently in more than one place rather than from a single family line. The spelling could also overlap with Broker in historical records, which may blur the two origins in some branches.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
In one of Barber’s examples, “Napkin Brooker” is said to have been given as a foundling surname because the child was found beside a brook.
From the historical record
“same name. BROOKER. See Brook, and the ter- mination ER. BROOKMAN. See Brook, and the ter- mination MAX. BROOKS. BROOKES. See Brook. BROOM. BROOME. Some families claim to be of Plautagcnet origin with an anglicised name; but the name is more likely to be local, from one of the parishes”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom