Brooks (surname)

Brooks
PronunciationPlural Brookses; possessive Brooks's, Brookses'
Origin
Meaning"residing near a stream or brook"
Region of originEngland / Anjou, France / Germany / Scandinavia

The word brook derives from the Old English broc and appears in the Medieval predecessors of Brooks (Ate-Broc and Atte-Broc).[1][2][3] The surname arrived in North America from England in the mid-seventeenth century.[1]

The surname Brooks is recorded in Ireland from the 1600s. O'Laughlin reports that "some of the name could stem from Irish origins, the name being changed into the English word 'Brook' or Brooks."[4] The surname is also found among English-speaking Ashkenazi Jews, deriving from the male Hebrew given name Boruch ("blessed").

  1. ^ a b Origin and History of the Name of Brooks: With Biographies of All the Most Noted Persons of that Name (PDF). The Crescent Family Record. Chicago, Illinois (United States): American Publishers' Association. 1905 [1905]. Retrieved 2008-01-10. The name of Brooks is said to have derived from residence near a stream.
  2. ^ Harper, Douglas (November 2001). "brook". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 2007-01-10.
  3. ^ "brook". Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language (1989 ed.). New York: Portland House. 1989. p. 189. ISBN 0-517-68781-X.
  4. ^ Michael C. O'Laughlin (2002). The Book of Irish Families, Great & Small. Irish Roots Cafe. ISBN 9780940134096.