Brooke
Brooke was given to 972 girls in 2025, #313 among girls’ names; 200,521 Americans have been recorded with it since 1914 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 196,000 Americans named Brooke and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (98% of everyone recorded); the median is 29 years old and half are between 20 and 37.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Brooke by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Brooke mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Brooke is “a female given name transferred from the surname, fairly popular since the 1970s. it was further popularized by Brooke Shields in the 80s.”
A topographic surname for someone who lived near a brook.
/bɹʊk/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Brooke?
#313 among girls’ names, 2025
Brooke fell from #150 in 2015 to #313 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 1.2 to 0.60 per 1,000.
6,749 babies in 1996, the peak
Brooke peaked in 1996, when 6,749 babies were given it (6,724 girls, #45 among girls’ names). The 972 births of 2025 are 14% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 972 | #313 | 0.60 |
| 2024 | 999 | #308 | 0.62 |
| 2023 | 1,033 | #299 | 0.64 |
| 2022 | 1,181 | #270 | 0.72 |
| 2021 | 1,186 | #262 | 0.72 |
| 2020 | 1,262 | #236 | 0.78 |
| 2019 | 1,441 | #211 | 0.86 |
| 2018 | 1,527 | #201 | 0.90 |
| 2017 | 1,619 | #193 | 0.94 |
| 2016 | 1,871 | #173 | 1.1 |
Every recorded year (90)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 2,150 | #150 | 1.2 |
| 2014 | 2,392 | #139 | 1.3 |
| 2013 | 2,754 | #115 | 1.6 |
| 2012 | 2,976 | #102 | 1.7 |
| 2011 | 3,372 | #86 | 1.9 |
| 2010 | 3,706 | #73 | 2.1 |
| 2009 | 4,798 | #54 | 2.6 |
| 2008 | 5,186 | #52 | 2.7 |
| 2007 | 5,508 | #45 | 2.9 |
| 2006 | 5,747 | #44 | 3.0 |
| 2005 | 5,571 | #47 | 3.0 |
| 2004 | 5,712 | #46 | 3.1 |
| 2003 | 5,971 | #43 | 3.3 |
| 2002 | 5,338 | #52 | 3.0 |
| 2001 | 5,213 | #57 | 2.9 |
| 2000 | 5,642 | #51 | 3.1 |
| 1999 | 6,066 | #47 | 3.4 |
| 1998 | 6,346 | #46 | 3.6 |
| 1997 | 6,671 | #45 | 3.8 |
| 1996 | 6,724 | #45 | 3.8 |
| 1995 | 6,377 | #52 | 3.6 |
| 1994 | 5,973 | #54 | 3.3 |
| 1993 | 6,161 | #52 | 3.4 |
| 1992 | 5,771 | #59 | 3.1 |
| 1991 | 5,551 | #65 | 3.0 |
| 1990 | 4,990 | #70 | 2.6 |
| 1989 | 4,148 | #74 | 2.3 |
| 1988 | 3,416 | #87 | 1.9 |
| 1987 | 2,955 | #94 | 1.7 |
| 1986 | 2,698 | #104 | 1.6 |
| 1985 | 2,726 | #102 | 1.6 |
| 1984 | 2,749 | #99 | 1.6 |
| 1983 | 2,862 | #96 | 1.7 |
| 1982 | 3,144 | #92 | 1.9 |
| 1981 | 5,328 | #52 | 3.2 |
| 1980 | 4,951 | #57 | 3.0 |
| 1979 | 3,505 | #85 | 2.2 |
| 1978 | 2,533 | #115 | 1.7 |
| 1977 | 1,871 | #150 | 1.2 |
| 1976 | 1,463 | #175 | 1.0 |
| 1975 | 1,182 | #208 | 0.81 |
| 1974 | 964 | #260 | 0.66 |
| 1973 | 771 | #303 | 0.53 |
| 1972 | 736 | #321 | 0.48 |
| 1971 | 729 | #347 | 0.44 |
| 1970 | 758 | #345 | 0.43 |
| 1969 | 403 | #480 | 0.24 |
| 1968 | 326 | #527 | 0.20 |
| 1967 | 268 | #585 | 0.16 |
| 1966 | 286 | #562 | 0.17 |
| 1965 | 146 | #822 | 0.08 |
| 1964 | 126 | #940 | 0.07 |
| 1963 | 149 | #857 | 0.08 |
| 1962 | 132 | #923 | 0.07 |
| 1961 | 120 | #988 | 0.06 |
| 1960 | 102 | #1,064 | 0.05 |
| 1959 | 73 | #1,255 | 0.04 |
| 1958 | 68 | #1,282 | 0.03 |
| 1957 | 67 | #1,289 | 0.03 |
| 1956 | 85 | #1,116 | 0.04 |
| 1955 | 67 | #1,230 | 0.03 |
| 1954 | 101 | #964 | 0.05 |
| 1953 | 133 | #797 | 0.07 |
| 1952 | 51 | #1,351 | 0.03 |
| 1951 | 51 | #1,302 | 0.03 |
| 1950 | 54 | #1,250 | 0.03 |
| 1949 | 67 | #1,103 | 0.04 |
| 1948 | 42 | #1,423 | 0.02 |
| 1947 | 41 | #1,462 | 0.02 |
| 1946 | 43 | #1,321 | 0.03 |
| 1945 | 40 | #1,263 | 0.03 |
| 1944 | 40 | #1,258 | 0.03 |
| 1943 | 30 | #1,529 | 0.02 |
| 1942 | 46 | #1,164 | 0.03 |
| 1941 | 35 | #1,297 | 0.03 |
| 1940 | 24 | #1,597 | 0.02 |
| 1939 | 9 | #2,946 | 0.01 |
| 1938 | 8 | #3,210 | 0.01 |
| 1935 | 5 | #4,288 | under 0.01 |
| 1934 | 7 | #3,488 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Brooke a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 200,521 Americans recorded as Brooke, 99% are girls and 1% boys. In 2025 it went to 972 girls; SSA lists no boys with it that year (fewer than 5, or none).
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Brooke: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Brooke, and how old are they?
196,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 98% of the 200,521 Americans ever recorded as Brooke. The median Brooke alive today is 29 years old; half are between 20 and 37.
The 2020 Census counted 178,439 people named Brooke (177,054 women and girls, 1,385 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 190,486 born in the U.S. The Census count is 6% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 165 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 1,600 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 20,400 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 70,100 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 83,000 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 20,300 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Brooke born?
The states with the most babies named Brooke are California, Texas and New York, with 24% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 81 | #406 | 0.7× |
| Texas | 75 | #445 | 0.8× |
| New York | 71 | #242 | 0.8× |
| Pennsylvania | 65 | #173 | 1.2× |
| Massachusetts | 54 | #101 | 0.9× |
| New Jersey | 47 | #174 | 0.8× |
| Florida | 44 | #429 | 1.1× |
| Illinois | 43 | #241 | 0.9× |
| North Carolina | 34 | #319 | 0.8× |
| Virginia | 32 | #257 | 1.0× |
Where Brooke is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Brooke is most over-represented in Utah: since 1914 it was given 1.5 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Brooke with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 3 names spelled alike, given to 215,084 babies since 1880, Brooke is the most given (93% of them). In 2025 it was given to 972 of their 1,019 babies (95%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Brooke
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Brooke and names like it
- Compare Brooke and BrookBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1990sBrooke peaked in 1996.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Brooke since 1910.
- From surnamesWiktionary’s origin for Brooke: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1996The year the most babies were named Brooke.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Brooke alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with BMost given first.