How popular is the baby name Brooks in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Find out using the graph below! Plus, check out all the blog posts that mention the name Brooks.

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Popularity of the Baby Name Brooks


Posts that Mention the Name Brooks

Baby names with OO: Cooper, Brooklyn, Rooney

raccoon

Looking for baby names that feature the letter-pair OO?

I’ve collected oodles of OO names for you in this post!

Before we get to the names, though, let’s get one big question out of the way…

What sound does OO make?

In today’s English, OO commonly makes the sound you hear in the words boot, food, and moon. But it can also make other sounds, such as the ones you hear in the words blood, or door, or good.

Why all this diversity?

A lot of it has to do with the Great Vowel Shift, which lasted from the late 14th century until about 1700. The GVS was a major factor in the transition from Middle English to Modern English.

In Middle English, OO tended to make a “long o” sound. (As one of my sources explained, “scribes often indicated a long vowel sound by doubling the vowel letter.”) So, in Middle English, the words boot, food, and moon sounded more like “boat,” “foad,” and “moan.”

During the Great Vowel Shift, the pronunciation of most long vowel sounds inexplicably shifted “upward” in the mouth, and the words boot, food, and moon acquired their present-day pronunciations.

But it’s not quite as simple as that. Because some words underwent multiple pronunciation changes during the GVS, while others didn’t undergo any change at all.

And this resulted in OO having a variety of pronunciations in Modern English.

Now, back to the names!

Top baby names with OO

Let’s begin with the most popular names with OO:

Top girl names with OOTop boy names with OO
Brooklyn
Brooke
Brooklynn
Noor
Cooper
Oona
Rooney
Brooks
Hoorain
Moon
Cooper
Brooks
Boone
Kooper
Booker
Woodrow
Haroon
Woods
Brooklyn
Elwood

Now here are the same names again, but this time around I’ve added some details (including definitions, rankings, and popularity graphs).

Booker

The English surname Booker, which is derived from the Middle English word bokere, originally referred to someone who worked with books (such as a scribe, or a book binder).

Graph of the usage of the baby name Booker in the U.S. since 1880
Usage of the baby name Booker

Booker is currently the 1,204th most popular boy name in the nation.

Boone

The Anglo-Norman surname Boone has several potential origins, one of which is the Old French word bon, meaning “good.”

Graph of the usage of the baby name Boone in the U.S. since 1880
Usage of the baby name Boone

Boone is currently the 573rd most popular boy name in the U.S.

Brooke + Brooks

The English surname Brooke is a variant of the surname Brook, which originally referred to someone who lived either near a brook or a stream, or in one of the various English villages called Brook/Brooke.

Graph of the usage of the baby name Brooke in the U.S. since 1880
Usage of the baby name Brooke

Brooks is also a variant of the surname Brook.

Graph of the usage of the baby name Brooks in the U.S. since 1880
Usage of the baby name Brooks

Brooks is currently the 77th most popular boy name in the nation, whereas Brooke ranks 259th for girls.

The name Brooks is also sometimes spelled Brookes or Broox.

Brooklyn + Brooklynn

The name Brooklyn comes from the name of the New York City borough, which was founded by Dutch settlers in the 17th century and named after the Dutch town of Breukelen. The town name (originally “Broecklede”) can be traced back to the Middle Dutch words broec, meaning “marshland,” and lede, which referred to a dug watercourse (as opposed to a natural one).

Graph of the usage of the baby name Brooklyn in the U.S. since 1880
Usage of the baby name Brooklyn

Brooklynn is a variant of Brooklyn (likely influenced by the name Lynn).

Graph of the usage of the baby name Brooklynn in the U.S. since 1880
Usage of the baby name Brooklynn

Brooklyn is currently the 63rd most popular girl name in the U.S., and Brooklynn ranks 314th. Brooklyn is also the 2,515th most popular name for boys.

Other spellings of the name include Brooklynne, Brookelyn/Brookelynn/Brookelynne, Brooklin/Brooklinn, and Brooklen/Brooklenn.

Cooper + Kooper

The English surname Cooper, which is derived from the Middle English word couper, originally referred to someone who made or repaired wooden vessels (such as casks, tubs, and buckets).

Graph of the usage of the baby name Cooper in the U.S. since 1880
Usage of the baby name Cooper

Kooper is a variant of Cooper.

Graph of the usage of the baby name Kooper in the U.S. since 1880
Usage of the baby name Kooper

Cooper is currently the 68th most popular boy name in the nation, and Kooper ranks 1,090th. Cooper is also the 1,597th most popular name for girls.

Elwood

The English surname Elwood is ultimately derived from the Anglo-Saxon personal name Ælfweald, which was comprised of the Old English words ælf, meaning “elf,” and weald, meaning “rule.”

Graph of the usage of the baby name Elwood in the U.S. since 1880
Usage of the baby name Elwood

Elwood is currently the 2,582nd most popular boy name in the U.S.

The name is also sometimes spelled Ellwood.

Haroon

The name Haroon is the Urdu form of the Arabic name Harun, which is derived from the Biblical name Aaron (of unknown origin).

Graph of the usage of the baby name Haroon in the U.S. since 1880
Usage of the baby name Haroon

Haroon is currently the 2,033rd most popular boy name in the nation.

Hoorain

The name Hoorain seems to be an Urdu name based on the Quranic phrase hoorun’een, which refers to maidens with beautiful eyes.

Graph of the usage of the baby name Hoorain in the U.S. since 1880
Usage of the baby name Hoorain

Hoorain is currently the 3,396th most popular girl name in the U.S.

Moon

The name Moon refers, of course, to the moon — the round object that circles the Earth once a month and shines at night (because it reflects light from the sun). The English word moon can be traced back to the Old English word mona.

Graph of the usage of the baby name Moon in the U.S. since 1880
Usage of the baby name Moon

Moon is currently the 3,455th most popular girl name in the nation.

Noor

The name Noor is a transcription of the Arabic word meaning “light.”

Graph of the usage of the baby name Noor in the U.S. since 1880
Usage of the baby name Noor

Noor is currently the 857th most popular girl name in the U.S.

Oona

The name Oona is an Anglicized form of the Irish name Úna, which may be derived from the Old Irish word úan, meaning “lamb.”

Graph of the usage of the baby name Oona in the U.S. since 1880
Usage of the baby name Oona

Oona is currently the 2,288th most popular girl name nation.

The name is also sometimes spelled Oonagh.

Rooney

The Irish surname Rooney is ultimately derived from the Irish word ruanaidh, meaning “champion, hero.”

Graph of the usage of the baby name Rooney in the U.S. since 1880
Usage of the baby name Rooney

Rooney is currently the 2,552nd most popular girl name in the U.S.

Woodrow

The English surname Woodrow originally referred to someone who lived either by a row of trees, by a row of houses in a wood, or in one of the various English villages called Woodrow/Wood Row.

Graph of the usage of the baby name Woodrow in the U.S. since 1880
Usage of the baby name Woodrow

Woodrow is currently the 1,752nd most popular boy name in the nation.

Woods

The English surname Woods, a variant of Wood, originally referred to someone who lived in or near a wood. It’s ultimately based on the Middle English word wode, meaning “wood.”

Graph of the usage of the baby name Woods in the U.S. since 1880
Usage of the baby name Woods

Woods is currently the 2,205th most popular boy name in the U.S.

More names with OO

So, what other names have OO in them?

Here are some less-common choices (that are still seeing usage in the U.S. these days):

  • Ajooni
  • Alanood
  • Anoop
  • Aroosh
  • Avnoor
  • Aynoor
  • Batool
  • Bloom
  • Boomer
  • Booth
  • Brooker
  • Brooklee, Brookley, Brookleigh
  • Brookson
  • Brookston
  • Cooke
  • Dawood
  • Eastwood
  • Eknoor
  • Farooq
  • Goodness
  • Gurnoor
  • Ha-Joon
  • Harnoor
  • Haywood
  • Hooper
  • Hoor
  • Hooria, Hooriya
  • Htoo
  • Japnoor
  • Jasnoor
  • Ji-Hoo
  • Ji-Soo
  • Jood
  • Joon
  • Joory
  • Kohinoor
  • Kulsoom
  • Leeloo
  • Linwood
  • Lynwood
  • Mahmood
  • Mahnoor
  • Manroop
  • Mansoor
  • Masooma
  • Maysoon
  • Moo
  • Moosa
  • Nooh
  • Noomi
  • Noora, Noorah
  • Nooreh
  • Noori
  • Nooria, Nooriyah
  • Noorseen
  • Noorulain
  • Prabhnoor
  • Poorna
  • Roo
  • Roohi
  • Rook
  • Roop
  • Roosevelt
  • Rooster
  • Sherwood
  • Shooter
  • Sookie
  • Sun-Woo
  • Taimoor
  • Tooba
  • Trooper
  • Wood
  • Woodensley
  • Woodland
  • Woodley
  • Woodlyn
  • Woodson
  • Woody, Woodie
  • Woo-Jin
  • Yaqoob
  • Yaqoot
  • Yoona
  • Zaroon
  • Zooey

So far we’ve seen two presidential names: Woodrow and Roosevelt. Did you know that a total of five U.S. presidents had OO names, and that all five served during the first half of the 20th century?

  • Theodore Roosevelt (in office from 1901 to 1909)
  • Woodrow Wilson (1913 to 1921)
  • Calvin Coolidge (1923 to 1929)
  • Herbert Hoover (1929 to 1933)
  • Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933 to 1945)

(The surnames Coolidge and Hoover have been used as first names as well — just not recently.)

We’ve also seen a number of names that include the English words “wood,” “good,” and “brook.” So I combed through the earlier SSA data to find more names with these words:

  • Atwood, Brentwood, Delwood, Derwood/Durwood, Fleetwood, Garwood, Glenwood/Glennwood, Greenwood, Harwood, Heywood, Kenwood, Kirkwood, Lenwood, Lindwood, Lynnwood, Lockwood, Marwood, Maywood, Norwood, Raywood, Stanwood, Underwood, Woodard, Woodfin, Woodford, Woodruff, Woodward
  • Goodluck, Goodman, Goodwin, Hagood, Osgood, Thurgood
  • Brookelle, Brookie, Brooksie, Brooksley, Seabrooke, Westbrook

Finally, if you’d like something even more uncommon (in the U.S.) than the names above, you can look to any of the various languages around the world known to feature the letter-pair OO in personal names. Examples include:

  • Dutch (e.g., Noortje, Joost)
  • Finnish (e.g., Auroora, Roope)
  • Estonian (e.g., Loore, Toomas)
  • Arabic (e.g., Hooda, Maqsood)
  • Persian (e.g., Afsoon, Behrooz)
  • Hindi (e.g., Poornima, Saroo)
  • Korean (e.g., Kyung-Sook, Sung-Hoon)

(The Middle Eastern and Asian names — because they’re being transcribed from non-Latin scripts — can also be spelled other ways, such as “Behrouz” and “Purnima.”)


Which of the OO names above to do you like most? (Can you think of any that I missed?) Let me know in the comments!

P.S. If you’d like to see popularity graphs for any of the more common names in this post, just check below for the long list of tags. Each tag is a name, so find the name you’re interested in and click through. The graph will take a moment to load — it’s grabbing a lot of data — but it will allow you to see at a glance the name’s current and historical U.S. usage.

Sources:

Image by Alexas_Fotos from Pixabay

Popular and unique baby names in Iowa, 2021

Iowa

The Midwestern state of Iowa welcomes roughly 40,000 babies per year.

Last year, the most popular baby names in the state were Charlotte and Oliver, according to the Iowa Department of Public Health.

Here are Iowa’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2021:

Girl Names

  1. Charlotte, 174 baby girls
  2. Olivia, 148
  3. Amelia, 141
  4. Ava, 125
  5. Emma, 121
  6. Evelyn, 111
  7. Nora, 110
  8. Sophia, 108
  9. Willow, 101
  10. Eleanor & Harper, 99 (tie)

Boy Names

  1. Oliver, 207 baby boys
  2. Liam, 176
  3. Henry, 169
  4. Noah, 136
  5. Asher, 131
  6. Theodore, 129
  7. Hudson, 125
  8. Owen, 123
  9. Brooks, 122
  10. Jack, 120

The SSA’s rankings for Iowa are very similar, though, so…why bother posting Iowa’s own rankings?

Because the state also releases the rest of its baby name data (yay!), so we have a chance to see the names at the other end of the spectrum.

Over 3,600 girl names and over 2,800 boy names were bestowed just once in Iowa last year. Here’s a selection of Iowa’s unique baby names of 2021:

Unique Girl NamesUnique Boy Names
Amazingrace, Biftu, Celine D’Arc, DaRell, Endellion, Fiolla, Geranium, Hagia-Sophia, Heulwen, Isniin, Johovana, KipperMay, Libba, Mauslynn, Nardos, Onnova, Phyu, Qualoni, Rexha, Six, Tempo, Ulani, Villandry, Wintwar, Xhivani, Yolna, ZelleAdventurous, Biden Rafael, Conker, Divoc, Eastwood, Felty, Grimnir, Healer, Heritier, Isidoro, Judicael, Kenaniah, Lil Junior, McClane, Nightly, Oswalt, Pilot, Qua, Rensselaer, Senanu, Tchite, Utah, Veon, Winiga, XanLee, Yuepheng, Zelldean

Some thoughts on a few of the above…

  • Divoc is “Covid” spelled backwards.
  • Endellion is a Cornish place name. (Former UK PM David Cameron used this name a few years back.)
  • Hagia Sophia, which means “holy wisdom” in ancient Greek, refers to the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul.
  • Heritier (héritier) means “heir” in French.
  • Isniin means “Monday” in Somali.
  • McClane is the surname of the main character (John McClane) in the Die Hard movies.
  • Villandry is a commune in central France.
  • Wintwar (Wint War) is a Burmese name. (A number of refugees from Myanmar live in Iowa.)
  • Zelle is a digital payments network (launched in 2017).

In 2020, the top two names in Iowa were Olivia and Oliver.

Sources: Top Baby Names – Iowa Public Health Tracking Portal, Iowa – Wikipedia, List of U.S. states and territories by population – Wikipedia, Wiktionary

Top one-syllable baby names of 2021: Grace, Claire; James, Jack

single tree

Which one-syllable baby names were the most popular in the U.S. in 2020?

I scanned the 2021 U.S. baby name data and found these:

Girl Names

  1. Grace (ranked 34th overall)
  2. Claire (59th)
  3. Quinn (80th)
  4. Jade (91st)
  5. Rose (116th)
  6. Maeve (124th)
  7. Sloane (143rd)
  8. Reese (147th)
  9. Faith (169th)
  10. June (175th)

(A little lower down were Sage, Ruth, and Blake.)

Boy Names

  1. James (ranked 5th overall)
  2. Jack (11th)
  3. John (27th)
  4. Luke (32nd)
  5. Kai (71st)
  6. Brooks (77th)
  7. Beau (94th)
  8. Jace (102nd)
  9. Chase (125th)
  10. Cole (132nd)

(A little lower down were George, Rhett, and Jude.)

These lists include the same names that appeared on the 2020 lists, but in both cases the names are in a slightly different order.

And, of course, here’s the usual disclaimer: I left out the borderline boy names (Owen, Wyatt, Charles, Miles/Myles, Ryan, Ian, Rowan, Gael) that can be pronounced with either one or two syllables, depending upon the accent of the speaker. Notably, all nine of these names ranked higher than both Chase and Cole.

For more single-syllable names, check out the one-syllable girl names and one-syllable boy names posts.

Top first letters of baby names in the U.S., 2021

Which first letters were the most and least popular for U.S. baby names in 2021?

Top first letters for girl names: A, E, M

For baby girls, the most-used first letter was A, followed by E and M. The least-used first letter was U.

Graph of first letter popularity for U.S. baby girl names, 2021

The most popular girl names per letter were…

  • A-names (over 273,100 baby girls): Amelia, Ava, Abigail, Avery, Aria, Aurora
  • B-names (over 49,300): Brooklyn, Bella, Brielle, Blakely, Bailey, Brianna
  • C-names (over 93,100): Charlotte, Camila, Chloe, Claire, Caroline, Cora
  • D-names (over 40,300): Delilah, Daisy, Diana, Daniela, Delaney, Dakota
  • E-names (over 155,300): Emma, Evelyn, Elizabeth, Eleanor, Ella, Emily
  • F-names (over 16,500): Freya, Faith, Finley, Fiona, Fatima, Frances
  • G-names (over 42,900): Gianna, Grace, Genesis, Gabriella, Genevieve, Georgia
  • H-names (over 54,900): Harper, Hazel, Hannah, Hailey, Hadley, Harmony
  • I-names (over 44,100): Isabella, Isla, Ivy, Iris, Isabelle, Isabel
  • J-names (over 73,500): Josephine, Jade, Julia, Josie, Juniper, Jasmine
  • K-names (over 89,100): Kinsley, Kennedy, Kaylee, Kehlani, Katherine, Kylie
  • L-names (over 115,300): Luna, Layla, Lily, Leah, Lucy, Lillian
  • M-names (over 143,500): Mia, Mila, Madison, Maya, Madelyn, Madeline
  • N-names (over 58,800): Nora, Nova, Naomi, Natalie, Natalia, Nevaeh
  • O-names (over 30,200): Olivia, Olive, Oakley, Oaklynn, Octavia, Ophelia
  • P-names (over 37,600): Penelope, Paisley, Piper, Peyton, Parker, Presley
  • Q-names (over 4,100): Quinn, Quincy, Queen, Quinley, Quetzalli, Quinnley
  • R-names (over 74,800): Riley, Ruby, Rylee, Raelynn, Rose, Remi
  • S-names (over 116,400): Sophia, Sofia, Scarlett, Stella, Savannah, Skylar
  • T-names (over 24,200): Taylor, Teagan, Trinity, Tatum, Tessa, Talia
  • U-names (over 600): Unique, Uma, Ulani, Una, Unknown, Unity
  • V-names (over 32,400): Violet, Victoria, Valentina, Vivian, Valerie, Valeria
  • W-names (over 14,700): Willow, Wren, Winter, Wynter, Willa, Wrenley
  • X-names (over 4,500): Ximena, Xiomara, Xyla, Xena, Xochitl, Xitlali
  • Y-names (over 7,600): Yaretzi, Yara, Yareli, Yasmin, Yamileth, Yuna
  • Z-names (over 29,100): Zoey, Zoe, Zuri, Zara, Zariah, Zelda

Top first letters for boy names: J, A, L

For baby boys, the most-used first letter was J, followed by A and L. The least-used first letter was U.

Graph of first letter popularity for U.S. baby boy names, 2021

The most popular boy names per letter were…

  • A-names (over 178,600 baby boys): Alexander, Asher, Aiden, Anthony, Andrew, Adrian
  • B-names (over 86,600): Benjamin, Brooks, Bennett, Beau, Bryson, Brayden
  • C-names (over 123,000): Carter, Charles, Caleb, Christopher, Cameron, Cooper
  • D-names (over 85,000): Daniel, David, Dylan, Dominic, Declan, Damian
  • E-names (over 108,700): Elijah, Ethan, Ezra, Elias, Ezekiel, Eli
  • F-names (over 20,500): Finn, Felix, Finley, Francisco, Fernando, Finnegan
  • G-names (over 53,500): Grayson, Gabriel, Greyson, Gael, Giovanni, George
  • H-names (over 50,000): Henry, Hudson, Hunter, Harrison, Hayden, Hayes
  • I-names (over 31,500): Isaac, Isaiah, Ian, Ivan, Israel, Ismael
  • J-names (over 202,800): James, Jack, Jackson, Jacob, John, Joseph
  • K-names (over 93,400): Kai, Kayden, Kingston, Kaiden, Kevin, King
  • L-names (over 133,400): Liam, Lucas, Levi, Logan, Leo, Luke
  • M-names (over 126,700): Mateo, Michael, Mason, Matthew, Maverick, Miles
  • N-names (over 57,400): Noah, Nathan, Nolan, Nicholas, Nathaniel, Nicolas
  • O-names (over 38,800): Oliver, Owen, Oscar, Omar, Orion, Odin
  • P-names (over 23,700): Parker, Patrick, Peter, Preston, Phoenix, Paxton
  • Q-names (over 3,100): Quinn, Quentin, Quincy, Quinton, Quintin, Quinten
  • R-names (over 82,800): Ryan, Roman, Robert, Rowan, River, Ryder
  • S-names (over 70,300): Sebastian, Samuel, Santiago, Silas, Sawyer, Steven
  • T-names (over 59,200): Theodore, Thomas, Thiago, Theo, Tyler, Tucker
  • U-names (over 2,500): Uriel, Uriah, Ulises, Ulysses, Uziel, Umar
  • V-names (over 11,000): Vincent, Victor, Valentino, Vincenzo, Vicente, Vihaan
  • W-names (over 49,100): William, Wyatt, Waylon, Wesley, Weston, Walker
  • X-names (over 7,200): Xavier, Xander, Xzavier, Xavion, Xavien, Xavian
  • Y-names (over 8,200): Yusuf, Yosef, Yehuda, Yousef, Yahir, Yisroel
  • Z-names (over 26,900): Zion, Zachary, Zayden, Zane, Zayn, Zander