Brooks is a surname of Germanic (Anglo/Saxon) origin and also Olde English pre 7th century origin.
As the name is widely recorded in Germany, England, Ireland and Scotland, it is likely that it has many possible origins North Western Europe.
It is thought that the surname has come from meaning 'living near a stream or brook'. In Germany a Brook is a rocky area, but in England the word means a stream or area of land that floods in the winter.
The meaning could also be residential, simply that the people that have the surname lived in one of the many places called Brook or Broke in England or Germany.
It could also have derived from the male Hebrew name 'Boruch', meaning blessed.
The first known reference to the name was a baron that accompanied William the Conqueror in the Battle of Britain in 1066.
The surname was one of the first that was taken over to America with the new English colonies too.
And many notable people share the name, such as:
- Cindy Brooks, American model
- Jonny Brooks, English football player
- Zoey Brooks, American Actress
