How popular is the baby name Brooks in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see 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

Interesting baby name analysis

I only recently noticed that Behind the Name, one of my favorite websites for baby name definitions, has a page called United States Popularity Analysis — a “computer-created analysis of the United States top 1000 names for the period 1880 to 2012.”

The page has some interesting top ten lists. Here are three of them:

Most Volatile

Boy NamesGirl Names
1. Elvis
2. Brooks
3. Santiago
4. Lincoln
5. Ernie
6. Wyatt
7. Quincy
8. Rogers
9. Alec
10. Dexter		1. Juliet
2. Lea
3. Justine
4. Martina
5. Felicia
6. Delilah
7. Selina
8. Lonnie
9. Magdalena
10. Katy

Biggest Recoveries

Boy NamesGirl Names
1. Silas
2. Isaiah
3. Caleb
4. Emmett
5. Jordan
6. Josiah
7. Harrison
8. Ezra
9. Jason
10. Jesus		1. Ella
2. Stella
3. Sadie
4. Sophie
5. Isabella
6. Lily
7. Hannah
8. Isabelle
9. Sophia
10. Lilly

Biggest Flash-in-the-Pans

Boy NamesGirl Names
1. Dewey
2. Woodrow
3. Dale
4. Barry
5. Rick
6. Greg
7. Roosevelt
8. Shannon
9. Kim
10. Darrin		1. Debra
2. Lori
3. Tammy
4. Pamela
5. Tracy
6. Cheryl
7. Beverly
8. Dawn
9. Diane
10. Kathy

I wonder what the formulas were. I’d love to try the same analysis on the SSA’s full list, using raw numbers instead of rankings. Wonder how much overlap there’d be…

Baby names from hockey

A reader named Elizabeth has sent me a rather cool list of hockey-inspired baby names. She writes:

I’m a name enthusiast and a hockey fanatic, and my husband and I have been tossing around the idea of naming our son after hockey players.

They haven’t seen any lists of hockey names for babies, though, so they decided to compile one themselves. It includes “both all-time greats and current players.”

I thought I’d pass it along to share with fellow rink rats who may be reading your blog and can’t think of anything other than Wayne (Gretzky), Herb (Brooks), or Patrick (Roy).

Here’s their list:

  • Andreas (Andreas Lilja, Andreas Nödl)
  • Aurèle (Aurèle Émile Joliat)
  • Bentley (Max Bentley, Doug Bentley)
  • Bourque (Ray Bourque, Rene Bourque)
  • Briere (Danny Briere)
  • Brooks (Herb Brooks, Brooks Laich)
  • Crosby (Sidney Crosby)
  • Dryden (Ken Dryden)
  • Eaves (Patrick Eaves)
  • Elias (Patrik Elias)
  • Émile (Aurèle Émile Joliat)
  • Ennis (Tyler Ennis)
  • Evgeni (Evgeni Malkin, Evgeni Nabokov)
  • Ilya (Ilya Kovalchuk, Ilya Bryzgalov)
  • Kane (Patrick Kane)
  • Lach (Elmer Lach)
  • Lemieux (Mario Lemieux)
  • Luca (Luca Caputi)
  • Malkin (Evgeni Malkin)
  • Malone (Joe Malone, Ryan Malone)
  • Marek (Marek Svatos)
  • Mario (Mario Lemieux)
  • Marleau (Patrick Marleau)
  • Michal (Michal Handzus)
  • Milan (Milan Hejduk)
  • Modano (Mike Modano)
  • Nikolai (Nikolai Khabibulin)
  • Parise (Zach Parise)
  • Pavel (Pavel Datsyuk)
  • Rene (Rene Bourque)
  • Savard (Serge Savard, Marc Savard)
  • Shore (Eddie Shore)
  • Stephane (Stephane Yelle)
  • Turco (Marty Turco)

Thanks so much for sharing, Elizabeth!

Another good source of hockey names is the Legends of Hockey website, which is affiliated with the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Which hockey names are your favorites?

Update, Feb. 2024: Since publishing this list, I’ve written a few posts featuring hockey players: Jaromír Jágr, Sidney Crosby, and P. K. Subban.

One-syllable boy names: Colt, Wynn, Dax, Zane

single tree

Looking for a boy name that’s short and to-the-point? Something that might work particularly well as a middle name?

Check out this list of several hundred one-syllable boy names:

  • Abe, Alf, Arch, Ace/Ayce, Ames, Ash/Ashe
  • Baine/Bane/Bayne, Banks/Banx, Bar, Barnes, Bash, Bates, Bay, Baz, Bear, Beau/Bo/Bow, Beck, Becks/Bex, Ben, Benz, Birch, Blade/Blayde, Blain/Blaine/Blayne/Blane, Blair/Blaire, Blaise/Blaze/Blayze/Blaize, Bless, Blessed, Blake/Blayke, Bliss, Blitz, Blue/Blu, Blythe, Bond, Boone, Booth, Boyce, Boyd, Brad, Bram, Brance, Brave, Brax, Bray, Breck, Breeze/Brees, Brent, Brett/Bret, Brex, Brick, Brix/Brixx, Brigg, Briggs, Bright, Brock/Broc, Bronx, Bronze, Brook, Brooks, Bruce, Bryce/Brice, Buck, Burk/Burke, Burl/Berl, Burns
  • Cade/Cayde, Cain/Caine, Cale, Camp, Carl, Carr, Case, Cash/Cache, Catch, Caz, Chad, Chance, Chap, Charles, Chase, Chaz, Chen, Chet, Chez, Chip, Chris, Church, Clark/Clarke, Clash, Claude, Claus, Clay, Clayt, Cliff, Clint, Clive, Cloud, Clutch, Clyde, Coast, Cole, Colt, Cord, Court, Cove, Craig, Crane, Cree, Creed, Creek, Crew, Crews, Croix, Cross, Crown, Cruz, Czar
  • Dahl, Daire/Dare, Dale, Dan, Dane/Dain/Daine/Dayne/Dayn, Dart, Dash, Dawes, Dax, Dean, Dee, Del/Dell, Derl, Deuce, Din, Dirk, Doc/Dock, Dolph, Don, Dor, Dov, Doyle, Drake, Dream, Dre, Drew/Dru, Dodge, Dowd, Duane/Dwayne, Duff, Duke, Dune, Dutch
  • Earl, East, Ebb, Edge, Ernst
  • Fate, Finch, Finn, Fitz, Fjord, Fleet, Flex, Flint, Flip, Floyd, Flynn, Ford, Fox, Frank, Franz, Fred, Friend, Fritz, Frost
  • Gabe, Gad, Gage/Gauge, Gaines/Gains, Gal, Gale, Garth, Gates, Gay, Gent, Geoff, George, Gibb, Gibbs, Gil/Gill, Giles, Glade, Glenn/Glen, Graham, Grant, Graves, Gray/Grey, Great, Green/Greene, Griff, Grimm/Grim, Gur, Gus, Gust, Guy
  • Haines, Hale, Hall, Hank, Hans, Hatch, Hawk/Hawke, Hayes/Haze/Hayze/Haize, Heath, Heir, Hicks, Hill, Hines, Hoke, Holmes, Holt, Hoss, Hoyt, Hud, Hugh, Hume, Hunt, Hyde
  • Ives
  • Jacques, Jace/Jayce/Jase, Jack, Jake, James/Jamez, Jax, Jay/Jae, Jazz/Jaz, Jeff, Jess, Jin, Jett, Job, Joe/Jo, Joel, John/Jon, Jones, Josh, Joss, Jove, Juan, Judd/Jud, Jude, Judge, June, Jung
  • Kace/Kayce/Kase, Kade/Kayde, Kai, Kale, Kane/Kayne/Kaine, Karl, Kash, Kaz/Kazz, Keane/Kean/Keene, Keats, Keith, Kemp, Kent, Kern, Key, Kidd, Khan, Kim, King, Kip/Kipp, Kirk, Klaus, Klark, Klein, Knight, Knox, Kole, Kreed, Kris, Krish, Kurt, Kyle
  • Ladd, Lafe, Laird, Laith, Lake, Lance, Lane/Layne/Laine, Lark, Lars, Lee/Leigh, Leib, Leif/Leaf, Leith, Lev, Lex, Light, Lloyd, Locke/Lock, Lord/Lorde, Lorne, Lot/Lott, Luc, Luke, Lux, Lyle, Lynn/Lin, Lynx
  • Mace, Mack/Mac, March, Mark/Marc, Mars, Max, Mayes/Mays/Maze, Meade/Mead, Merle, Mike, Mills, Mitch, Moe/Mo, Moss, Myles/Miles
  • Nash, Nate, Naz, Neil/Neal, Neils, Nels, Ness, Nick, Nile, Niles/Nyles, Nils, Nir, Noel, Noor, North, Noyes
  • Oak, Oakes/Oaks, Om, Or, Oz
  • Pace, Page, Park, Parks/Parx, Parth, Patch, Paul, Pax, Paz, Peace, Peer, Penn, Pierce, Piers, Praise, Pratt, Pride, Priest, Prime, Prince, Psalm, Psalms
  • Quaid/Quade, Quest, Quill, Quinn, Quint
  • Ra, Race, Rage, Raines, Raj, Ralph, Ram, Rance, Rand, Range, Ray, Raz, Reece/Reese/Rhys, Reef, Reeve, Reeves, Reid/Reed, Reign, Rell, Ren, Rex, Rey, Rhett, Rhodes, Ridge, Riggs, Rip/Ripp, Roche, Rock, Rogue, Rolf/Rolfe, Rome, Ross, Roth, Rowe, Roy, Royce, Rudd, Rune, Rush, Rye/Ry, Ryne
  • Sage, Saint, Sam, Saul, Sayre, Scott, Seth/Set, Shade, Shane/Shayne/Shaine, Shaw, Shawn/Shaun/Sean, Shay/Shaye, Sky, Slate, Sloan/Sloane, Smith, South, Spade, Sprague, Steel, Stone, Storm, Styles/Stiles/Stylez, Suede, Swain/Swayne, Swan, Sway, Swift
  • Tad, Tadhg, Taft, Tai, Taj/Tahj/Tajh, Tal, Tank, Tate/Tait/Tayt, Tay/Taye, Taz, Teague, Tex, Thad, Thane/Thaine, Thames, Thor, Thorn/Thorne, Tighe, Todd, Tom/Thom, Townes/Towns, Trace, Track, Trent, Trey, Trigg, Tripp, Tris, Troy, Troyce, True/Tru, Truce, Trust, Truth, Twain, Ty/Tye
  • Val, Vale, Van, Vance, Vane, Vaughn, Vic/Vick, Vince, Von, Voss
  • Wade/Wayde, Wales, Ward, Wayne, Webb, Welch, Wells, West, Wilde, Wilks, Will, Wing, Witt/Whitt, Wolf/Wolfe, Wood, Woods, Worth, Wraith, Wray, Wren, Wright, Wynn/Winn
  • Yale, Yann, Yates, York, Young, Yves
  • Zack/Zach/Zac, Zade/Zaide/Zayde/Zayd, Zale, Zam, Zane/Zain/Zayne/Zaine/Zayn, Zeal, Zed/Zedd, Zell, Zen, Zeth, Zeus, Zev, Ziv, Zvi, Zyn

Please note that I did include names in the gray area between one syllable and two syllables. The deciding factor on these particular names (such as Charles, Miles, and Noel) will be your own interpretation/accent, so be sure to test the names out loud before making any final decisions.

Many of these names also happen to be unisex, so they appear on the one-syllable girl names list as well.

What’s your favorite one-syllable boy name?

Image: Adapted from 1 Drvo 06241 by Olja Simovic under CC BY-SA 4.0.

[Latest update: July 2023]