Names

Dutch and Limburgish short form of Ambroos.

From an English surname, a variant of Brook.

Variant of Brooklyn.

From the name of a borough of New York City, originally named after the Dutch town of Breukelen, itself meaning either “broken land” (from Dutch breuk) or “marsh land” (from Dutch broek). It can also be viewed as a combination of Brook and the popular name suffix lyn. It is considered a feminine name in the United States, but is more common as a masculine name in the United Kingdom.

Variant of Brook. The name came into use in the 1950s, probably influenced by American socialite Brooke Astor (1902-2007). It was further popularized by actress Brooke Shields (1965-).

From an English surname that denoted one who lived near a brook.

Variant of Bronwen.

Derived from the Welsh elements bron “breast” and gwen “white, fair, blessed”.

Means “thunderer” in Greek. In Greek mythology (according to Hesiod), this was the name of one of the three Cyclopes, who were the sons of Uranus and Gaia.

From a surname, an Anglicized form of Irish Ó Proinntigh meaning “descendant of Proinnteach”. The given name Proinnteach meant “bestower” in Gaelic. The Brontë sisters – Charlotte, Emily, and Anne – were 19th-century English novelists. Their father changed the spelling of the family surname from Brunty to Brontë, possibly to make it coincide with Greek βροντή meaning “thunder”.