The name Brooks originates from England . It is derived from the name ‘Brook’ which was a topographic name for someone who lived by a brook or stream, by extension water meadow, ‘Water meadow’ or ‘marsh’ is the regular meaning of the Low Ger. cogn brook. The English spelling Brooke, originally used after a preposition (eg. ‘at the brook’).The name Brook is common in West and South Yorkshire, on the other hand Brook(e)s has a much more even distribrution throughout England. Brooks is also borne by Ashkenazic Jews, presumably as an Anlicization of one or more like-sounding Jewish names. Compiled information from Historical and Private archive’s has confirmed that the surname ‘Brook’ and or it’s variant’s, dates as far back as the 13th century were a ‘Alice de la Broke’, from England, is recorded on the Hundred Rolls in 1273. The exact period of settlement in North America has not been definately determined but Information extracted from Public and Civil registry archive’s confirm that one of the first settlers was a certain ‘Reverand John Brooks’, of Limavdy, Londonderry, Ireland, emigrated to America in 1829, and became a pioneer merchant…
Coat of arms: Gules on a chief argent a lion pass…