Explore the Family Name Brooking

The meaning of Brooking

English (Devon): topographic name for someone who lived by a stream or brook, an -ing derivative of Middle English brok ‘brook’, equivalent to Brooker. This formation is characteristic of Devon (compare Downing).

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Brooking in the United States?

Based on data from the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Brooking has seen a slight decrease in popularity over the years. In 2000, it was ranked 23,167th, but by 2010, it fell to the 24,075th position, marking a decline of 3.92%. Despite this drop in rank, the actual number of individuals with the Brooking surname increased marginally from 1,028 in 2000 to 1,046 in 2010, an increase of 1.75%. However, its proportion per 100,000 people decreased by 7.89% during the same period.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#23,167	#24,075	-3.92%
Count	1,028	1,046	1.75%
Proportion per 100k	0.38	0.35	-7.89%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Brooking

In terms of ethnicity, the Decennial U.S. Census data indicates that the majority of people with the Brooking surname identify as White - this group made up 87.26% in 2000 and grew slightly to 88.43% in 2010. The second largest ethnic identity associated with this surname is Black, although its representation dropped from 9.73% in 2000 to 7.93% in 2010. Interestingly, there was no representation of Asian/Pacific Islander or American Indian and Alaskan Native in both census years. A small percentage identified as two or more races (2.04% in 2000 and 1.34% in 2010) while the Hispanic category emerged in 2010 with 1.34% of the population bearing the Brooking surname identifying as such.

	2000	2010	Change
White	87.26%	88.43%	1.34%
Black	9.73%	7.93%	-18.5%
Two or More Races	2.04%	1.34%	-34.31%
Hispanic	0%	1.34%	0%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0.49%	0%	0%