Brok
Derived from Germanic roots meaning "brook" or "stream".
Name Census estimates that about 266 living Americans carry the first name Brok. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Brok today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Brok births was 1990 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Brok. 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.
People living today
266
~ 1 in 1,288,550 Americans
Peak year
1990
13 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2016 SSA rank
#12,477
Tracked since 1980
Census
Brok in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 288 people with the first name Brok, which placed it at #30,313 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
#30,313
National first-name rank
People counted
288
288 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
85.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Brok
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brok is White at 85.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.9%) and Hispanic (3.5%). 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 Brok 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 Brok at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White85.8% · 247
- Two or more races4.9% · 14
- Hispanic or Latino3.5% · 10
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.1% · 9
- Black or African American1.7% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 3
Popularity
Brok: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Brok from the 1980s through to the 2010s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 96 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Brok remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Brok 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 Brok during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Brok
The name Brok is believed to have its origins in Old English and Old Norse languages. It is thought to be derived from the Old English word "broc," which means "badger," or the Old Norse word "brokr," which means "breeches" or "trousers." This suggests that the name may have originally been used as a nickname or descriptive term.
The earliest recorded use of the name Brok dates back to the late 9th century, when it appeared in the Domesday Book, a manuscript record of the great survey of England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. In this historical document, the name was spelled as "Broc."
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Brok was Brok the Pict, a legendary figure from Scottish folklore who is said to have lived in the 6th century. According to legend, Brok was a formidable warrior and hunter who fought against the invading Saxons.
Another notable figure with the name Brok was Brok of Gascony, a French knight who fought in the Third Crusade in the late 12th century. He is mentioned in several chronicles and historical accounts of the time, including the "Itinerarium Peregrinorum et Gesta Regis Ricardi" by Richard of Devizes.
In the 13th century, there was a German blacksmith named Brok who was renowned for his skill in metalworking. He is mentioned in the "Völsunga saga," an Icelandic prose work that tells the story of the legendary Völsung clan and their conflicts with the dragon Fafnir.
In the 15th century, a Dutch painter named Brok van Delft achieved some renown for his religious paintings and altarpieces. While little is known about his life, several of his works have survived and are housed in various museums and churches across the Netherlands.
During the 16th century, there was a Scottish nobleman named Brok of Argyll who played a role in the turbulent politics of the time. He is mentioned in several historical accounts of the period, including the "Historie of the Reformation of the Realme of Scotland" by John Knox.
People
Brok + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Brok 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
Brok: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Brok?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 266 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Brok 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 1,288,550 US residents.
Is Brok a common name?
We classify Brok as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 272 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Brok most popular?
The single biggest year for Brok was 1990, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Brok is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Brok in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 288 people with the name Brok, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #30,313 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 Brok 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 Brok?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Brok leans strongly male. 277 people counted with this name were male (98.2%), compared with 5 female bearers (1.8%). 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 Brok?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brok is White at 85.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.9%) and Hispanic (3.5%). 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 Brok most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Brok in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.8% (247 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 Brok in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Brok a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Brok 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 Brok still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Brok 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 Brok 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 people share the name Brok?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.