# Brownlee (surname)

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

A surname from Old English.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | English |
| Type | place, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 11,344 |
| US rank (2010) | 3,186 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 27,217 people |
| Change since 2000 | +4.7% (10,839 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

Habitational surname from Old English brūn (“brown”) + lēah (“clearing in a forest”). Equivalent to brown + -lee (“lea”); compare Brown.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Brownlee 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) | 58% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 37% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 1.8% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.6% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.3% |
| Two or more races | 1.7% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Brownlee in the United States.

## People named Brownlee

- Marques Brownlee, American technology reviewer, YouTuber and Internet personality
- Frank Brownlee, actor (1874-1948)
- Donald E. Brownlee, American astronomer
- Kate Brownlee Sherwood, American writer (1841–1914)

## Similar surnames

Brownell, Brunelle, Brownlow, Brinley, Bromley, Bromwell, Bernal, Barnhill, Brumley, Bramlett, Barnwell, Burnell.

## 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.