Brooklyne
Derived from an English place name, suggesting a small stream.
Name Census estimates that about 722 living Americans carry the first name Brooklyne. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Brooklyne today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Brooklyne births was 2011 (47 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Brooklyne. 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 Brooklyne with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
722
~ 1 in 474,729 Americans
Peak year
2011
47 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,019
Tracked since 1989
Census
Brooklyne in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 601 people with the first name Brooklyne, which placed it at #18,056 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
#18,056
National first-name rank
People counted
601
601 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
68.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Brooklyne
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brooklyne is White at 68.6%. The next largest groups are Black (15.0%) and Two or More Races (7.8%). 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 Brooklyne 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 Brooklyne at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White68.6% · 412
- Black or African American15.0% · 90
- Two or more races7.8% · 47
- Hispanic or Latino7.2% · 43
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 4
Popularity
Brooklyne: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Brooklyne from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 302 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
Brooklyne 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 Brooklyne during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Brooklynes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, Ohio, Texas recorded the most babies named Brooklyne, while Texas, Ohio, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 11 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Brooklyne
The name Brooklyne has its origins in the English language and can be traced back to the late 19th century. It is a combination of the words "brook," meaning a small stream, and "lyne," an archaic spelling of "line." This suggests that the name may have initially been used to describe someone who lived near a small stream or waterway.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Brooklyne can be found in the 1891 book "The Brooklyne Family History" by William H. Brooklyne. This book chronicles the genealogy of the Brooklyne family, indicating that the name was already in use as a given name at that time.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Brooklyne. One of the most famous was Brooklyne Witherspoon (1889-1968), an American author and playwright known for her works exploring themes of love, loss, and societal issues. Her play "The Brooklyne Diaries" was a critical success and is still studied in literature classes today.
Another notable Brooklyne was Brooklyne Jameson (1912-1998), a British explorer and adventurer who led several expeditions to remote regions of the Amazon rainforest in the 1940s and 1950s. Her memoir, "Into the Green Abyss," recounts her harrowing experiences and encounters with indigenous tribes.
In the field of science, Brooklyne Hawkins (1928-2003) was a renowned physicist who made significant contributions to the study of quantum mechanics and the behavior of subatomic particles. Her research played a crucial role in the development of modern particle accelerators.
Brooklyne Delacroix (1945-2012) was a French artist whose abstract paintings and sculptures captured the essence of the post-modernist movement. Her works are displayed in prestigious galleries and museums around the world, and she is widely regarded as one of the most influential artists of the 20th century.
Lastly, Brooklyne Nguyen (1972-present) is a contemporary Vietnamese-American author and human rights activist. Her powerful memoirs, detailing her experiences as a refugee fleeing the Vietnam War and her advocacy for immigrants' rights, have garnered critical acclaim and numerous literary awards.
While the name Brooklyne may have humble origins, it has been borne by individuals who have left an indelible mark on various fields, from literature and art to science and human rights, throughout history.
People
Brooklyne + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Brooklyne 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
Brooklyne: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Brooklyne?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 722 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Brooklyne 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 474,729 US residents.
Is Brooklyne a common name?
We classify Brooklyne as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 733 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Brooklyne most popular?
The single biggest year for Brooklyne was 2011, when 47 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Brooklyne is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Brooklyne in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 601 people with the name Brooklyne, or 0.20 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18,056 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 Brooklyne 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 Brooklyne?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Brooklyne appears almost entirely female. Of the 594 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Brooklyne?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brooklyne is White at 68.6%. The next largest groups are Black (15.0%) and Two or More Races (7.8%). 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 Brooklyne most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Brooklyne in the 2020 Census, accounting for 68.6% (412 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 Brooklyne in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Brooklyne a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Brooklyne in the SSA data are female. 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 Brooklyne still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Brooklyne 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 Brooklyne 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 common is the name Brooklyne?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Brooklyne, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.