where does the last name brooks come from
Brooks (surname) Brooks is a toponymic surname that is thought to have been derived residing near a stream (or brook) from both the Swedish surname Bäckland, meaning bäck "brook, stream" and lund "grove" and English , Gaelic and Scottish from the possessive case of Brook (i.e. ‘of the brook’) from pre 7th century English origins; Old English broc and appearing in the Medieval predecessors of "Brooks" such as "Ate-Broc" and "Atte-Broc". The surname Brooks has many Germanic (Anglo Saxon) links and is sometimes associated with the countries Denmark , Sweden and Norway within Scandinavia and has wide links to the Scandinavian Peninsula. Commonly recorded in Germany , where it is sometimes found with the aristocratic "von", England, Scotland and Ireland it has many possible origins.[2] The word "brook" derives from the Old English broc and appears in the Medieval predecessors of "Brooks" such as "Ate-Broc" and "Atte-Broc".[2][3][4] The surname arrived in North America from England in the mid-seventeenth century.[2]
Stephen The name, in both the forms Stephen and Steven, is commonly shortened to Steve or Stevie. In English, the female version of the name is "Stephanie". Many surnames are derived from the first name, including Stephens, Stevens, Stephenson, and Stevenson, all of which mean "Stephen's (son)". In modern times especially the name has sometimes been given with intentionally nonstandard spelling, such as "Stevan" or "Stevon". A common variant of the name used in English is Stephan /ˈstɛfən/; related names that have found some currency or significance in English include Stefan (pronounced /ˈstɛfən/ or /stəˈfɑːn/ in English), Esteban (often pronounced /ˈɛstɪˌbɑːn/), and the Shakespearean Stephano /ˈstɛfənoʊ/. Like all biblical names, Stephen has forms in all major world languages. Some of these include: Esteban (Spanish; Spanish pronunciation: [esˈteβan]); Estêvão (Portuguese); Esteve (Catalan); Estève (Occitan); Étienne (French); Istifanus (Arabic); István (Hungarian); Setefane (Sotho); Shtjefni (Albanian); Sītífán (Mandarin Chinese); Stefan (German, Russian, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, and Serbian; German pronunciation: [ˈʃteːfan]); Stefán (Icelandic); Ștefan (Romanian); Štefan (Slovak and Slovenian); Stefana (Malagasy); Stefano (Italian and Swahili); Stefanos (modern Greek, modern Hebrew, and Estonian); Stefans (Latvian and Afrikaans); Steffan (Welsh); Stepan (Armenian, Ukrainian); Štěpán (Czech); Stepane (Georgian); Steponas (Lithuanian); Stiofán (Irish); Sutepano (Japanese); Szczepan (Polish); and Tapani (Finnish).