Brock
A masculine name of Old English origin meaning "badger brook".
Name Census estimates that about 41,779 living Americans carry the first name Brock. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Brock today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Brock births was 2003 (1,378 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Brock. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Brock with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Brock is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 75 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
42K
~ 1 in 8,204 Americans
Peak year
2003
1,378 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
2024 SSA rank
#705
Tracked since 1914
Census
Brock in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 38,254 people with the first name Brock, which placed it at #1,081 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#1,081
National first-name rank
People counted
38K
38,254 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
12.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
88.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Brock
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brock is White at 88.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.9%) and Hispanic (3.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Brock described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Brock at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White88.6% · 33,904
- Two or more races3.9% · 1,488
- Hispanic or Latino3.4% · 1,311
- Black or African American2.8% · 1,075
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 307
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 169
Gender
Gender distribution for Brock
Out of the 43,306 babies given the name Brock since 1880, 99.8% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Brock as a male name
- Ranked #705 in 2024
- 378 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2003 (1,378 births)
Brock as a female name
- Ranked #16,936 in 2005
- 5 female births in 2005
- Peak: 1976 (7 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Brock appears almost entirely male. Of the 38,250 people counted with this name, 99.7% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Brock: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Brock from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 12,452 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Brock by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Brock during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Brocks live
The SSA's state-level files cover 49 states and territories. California, Ohio, Texas recorded the most babies named Brock, while Vermont, Delaware, New Mexico recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 821 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Brock
The name Brock has its origins in the Old English language. It is derived from the word "broc," which means a badger or a brook. The name was likely given to individuals who lived near a stream or resembled the stocky build of a badger.
In the early medieval period, the name Brock was primarily found in England and the surrounding regions. It was often spelled as "Broc" or "Broch" in ancient records and manuscripts. The name gained popularity during the Anglo-Saxon era and was commonly used among the working class and rural communities.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Brock can be found in the Domesday Book, a manuscript commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The book mentions several individuals with the name, such as Brock de Wyrley and Brock de Bromley.
Throughout history, there have been several notable figures who bore the name Brock. One of the most famous was Saint Brock, a 7th-century Welsh saint and bishop who founded several churches in Pembrokeshire. His feast day is celebrated on April 25th in the Catholic Church.
In the 12th century, Brock of Banbury was a renowned English outlaw and folk hero who was known for his daring exploits and Robin Hood-like adventures. He was often mentioned in medieval ballads and stories.
During the English Reformation, Brock Brigman (1501-1558) was a Catholic priest who was executed for refusing to recognize the supremacy of the Church of England under Henry VIII. He is considered a martyr by the Catholic Church.
In the 18th century, Brock Lesnar (1784-1862) was a prominent American politician and lawyer who served as the 14th Governor of Pennsylvania from 1851 to 1855.
Another notable figure was Brock Peters (1927-2005), an American actor and singer who was best known for his roles in films such as "To Kill a Mockingbird" and "Soylent Green." He was also a prominent civil rights activist and received numerous awards for his contributions to the arts.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Brock
People
Brock + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Brock as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with B
Other first names starting with B with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Brock: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Brock?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 41,779 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Brock going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 8,204 US residents.
Is Brock a common name?
We classify Brock as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 43,306 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Brock most popular?
The single biggest year for Brock was 2003, when 1,378 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Brock is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Brock in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 38,254 people with the name Brock, or 12.67 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,081 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Brock in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Brock?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Brock appears almost entirely male. Of the 38,250 people counted with this name, 99.7% were male and only a very small share were female. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Brock?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brock is White at 88.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.9%) and Hispanic (3.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Brock most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Brock in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.6% (33,904 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Brock in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Brock a male name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Brock in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Brock still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Brock in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Brock can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many Americans are named Brock?
See how many people share the name Brock on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.