Brockway last name popularity, history, and meaning

Find out how popular the last name Brockway is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Brockway.

Meaning of Brockway

An English locational surname derived from any of the various places named Brockway, meaning "brook path."

Brockway, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Brockway surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Brockway in America

Brockway is the 6947th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Brockway surname appeared 4,828 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 2 people would have the surname Brockway.

We can also compare 2010 data for Brockway to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

2010 2000 Change (%)
Rank 6947 6559 5.75%
Count 4,828 4,765 1.31%
Proportion per 100k 1.64 1.77 -7.62%

The history of the last name Brockway

The surname Brockway is of English origin and dates back to the 12th century. It is a locational name, derived from the place name Brockway, a village in Somerset, England. The name itself is thought to come from the Old English words "broc" meaning brook or stream, and "weg" meaning way or path, referring to a path or road running alongside a brook.

One of the earliest recorded references to the name can be found in the Pipe Rolls of Worcestershire in 1275, where a William de Brocwey is mentioned. The Hundred Rolls of Oxfordshire from 1279 also make mention of a Richard de Brocweye.

In the 16th century, the name appeared in various records with different spellings, such as Brokway, Brokewaye, and Brokewey. A notable example is John Brockway, born in 1550 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, who was a prominent merchant and landowner.

Another significant figure was Sir Thomas Brockway (1572-1638), a member of parliament for Westbury in Wiltshire during the reign of King James I. He was known for his support of the English colonization of North America and was a shareholder in the Massachusetts Bay Company.

During the English Civil War, a Captain Robert Brockway (1610-1677) fought for the Parliamentarian forces and was commended for his bravery at the Battle of Naseby in 1645.

In the 18th century, the name was found in various parts of England, including Yorkshire and Derbyshire. One notable individual was Samuel Brockway (1733-1815), a renowned clockmaker from Derby whose clocks are still highly prized by collectors today.

The Brockway surname also has a long history in the United States, with early immigrants arriving from England in the 17th and 18th centuries. One of the first recorded instances was Rev. Thomas Brockway (1624-1688), who emigrated to Massachusetts in 1636 and became a prominent Puritan minister.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Brockway

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Brockway.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

  1. White only
  2. Black only
  3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
  4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
  5. Hispanic
  6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Brockway was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 94.78% 4,576
Non-Hispanic Black Only 0.27% 13
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only 0.58% 28
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.56% 27
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races 1.62% 78
Hispanic Origin 2.20% 106

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Brockway has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 94.78% 95.72% -0.99%
Black 0.27% 0.29% -7.14%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.58% 0.48% 18.87%
American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.56% 0.61% -8.55%
Two or More Races 1.62% 1.18% 31.43%
Hispanic 2.20% 1.72% 24.49%

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Brockway was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Brockway, please contact us.

Reference this page

We spend a lot of resources downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!

"Brockway last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on November 22, 2024. http://namecensus.com/last-names/brockway-surname-popularity/.

"Brockway last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/brockway-surname-popularity/. Accessed 22 November, 2024

Brockway last name popularity, history, and meaning. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from http://namecensus.com/last-names/brockway-surname-popularity/.

Search for a name

Search for a first or last name to learn more about its origin, meaning, and more.

Simple as that.