boy's name
Brock
BROK
- Origin English
- Gender Boy
- Syllables 1
- Letters 5
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 46,918
the United States
#813
2025 births
Brock means badger, and it is one of the oldest animal words in English — a Celtic borrowing that entered Old English before the Norman Conquest and survives in dialect to this day. Old English took very few Celtic words, which makes this one notable.
- Brock is a name of English origin.
- Peaked in 2003, when 1,378 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 10,834 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1914.
- 1 syllable, with the stress on syllable 1.
Brock over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1910s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1910s | 8 |
| 1920s | 29 |
| 1930s | 84 |
| 1940s | 240 |
| 1950s | 529 |
| 1960s | 1,311 |
| 1970s | 4,090 |
| 1980s | 6,350 |
| 1990s | 9,120 |
| 2000s | 12,452 |
| 2010s | 7,347 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 2,055 |
What Brock means
Brock means a badger. The word names the animal directly, and as a byname it described someone thought to resemble one rather than any abstract quality.
Where Brock comes from
Brock is the Old English brocc, a badger, borrowed from a Celtic root — the Welsh broch and Irish broc are the same word. It is one of a small set of Celtic loans into Old English, which took very few. The animal's white stripe gives a second English word, badger, from badge. Brock survived in regional dialect long after badger became standard, and Kenneth Grahame's Mr Badger is called Brock in older tellings.
Brock in use
Brock peaked in the United States in 2003, when 1,378 babies were registered, and is falling in our data. It now ranks 813th in the United States on 306 births and 6513th in England and Wales on 3, across 46,918 lifetime births in three of the seven markets we track. England and Wales ran its own peak of 18 births in 2017, and our records carry the name from 1914.
How popular is Brock?
In 2025, Brock was given to 306 babies in the United States, ranking #813 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Brock is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
Names that peaked alongside Brock
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Brock also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Brock over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Brock in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Brock
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Brock — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Brock
What does the name Brock mean?
A badger — the Old English brocc, borrowed from Celtic.
Why is it a Celtic loan?
Old English took very few Celtic words, which makes this one notable.
Where does badger come from?
From badge, for the white stripe on its face.
How popular is Brock?
813th in the United States, down from a 2003 peak of 1,378 births.
Is Brock a girl's or a boy's name?
Brock is given almost entirely to boys in birth records.
How many syllables are in Brock?
Brock has 1 syllable.
Is Brock a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Brock currently ranks #735 in the United States. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.