# Brooks (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/brooks/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A topographic surname from Middle English, variant of Brook.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | not recorded |
| Type | place, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 251,663 |
| US rank (2010) | 82 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 1,227 people |
| Change since 2000 | +4.5% (240,751 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /bɹʊks/, 1 syllable |
| Variant spellings | Brook |

## Who carries it

Share of people named Brooks in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 60% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 33% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.5% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.5% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.8% |
| Two or more races | 2.6% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Brooks in the United States, Australia, Italy and the United Kingdom.

## People named Brooks

- Mel Brooks, American comedian, filmmaker, and actor (born 1926)
- Garth Brooks, American country music singer and songwriter
- James L. Brooks, American director, writer, and producer (born 1940)
- Louise Brooks, American actress (1906–1985)
- Gwendolyn Brooks, American writer (1917–2000)
- Albert Brooks, American actor and comedian
- Fred Brooks, American computer scientist (1931–2022); author of The Mythical Man-Month and 'No Silver B
- Richard Brooks, American screenwriter, film director and producer (1912-1992)
- Geraldine Brooks, Australian-American journalist and author
- Danielle Brooks, American actress
- Mehcad Brooks, American actor and model
- Avery Brooks, American actor and director

and 83 more on Wikidata.

## Similar surnames

Burks, Brookes, Barks, Birks, Brock, Brooke, Brook, Borowski, Brokaw, Bork, Bross, Brose.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.