Westbrook

Etymology

Westbrook is an English locational surname built from Old English west, meaning “west,” and broc, meaning “brook” or “stream.” It originally referred to someone who lived near a brook lying to the west, or who came from a place called Westbrook. The name is straightforwardly topographic and does not require a personal nickname or occupation to explain it.

History

The surname is recorded in several English counties, especially in areas where Westbrook existed as a place-name. Nineteenth-century surname writers sometimes tried to connect families to specific local branches, but the core explanation is simply topographic. The name later spread beyond England through migration to North America and elsewhere.

Origin

Regions

Variant spellings

Fun fact

One 19th-century writer glossed the name very literally as “a western brook.”