Total Number of Places Named Brooklyn in the U.S.

If you were to ask a Brooklynite in New York City how many places called Brooklyn there are in the United States, it is likely you would hear, “There can be only one Brooklyn, right here.” However, in truth, there are about two dozen cities, towns, neighborhoods, or areas known as Brooklyn in the U.S.

What is it about the name Brooklyn? Let’s take a closer look at a few of those other places named Brooklyn.

History of the Word

There is little doubt that most uses of the place name in the United States originally come from the village founded in 1646 in New York City (then New Amsterdam) by Dutch settlers. It is named after the Dutch township of Breukelen near Utrecht in the Netherlands. The word comes from the Old High German language bruoh, which means “moor, marshland.” Moreover, the spelling of the U.S. place name is most likely influenced or distantly related to the word “brook.”

Brooklyn in New York

In New York, there are two places named Brooklyn. The lesser-known one is a small hamlet in western New York near Buffalo, which had a population of 1,000 as of the 2010 census.

When everyone thinks of Brooklyn, New York, the one they are most likely referring to is the borough where 2.5 million people live. It is one of five boroughs that make up New York City. Up until 1898, it was its own city, but then it joined with Manhattan, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island to become part of the City of New York. Therefore, if it were to be separated from New York City and become its own city again, it would be the second-largest city in the U.S., behind Los Angeles and Chicago.

Brooklyn in Wisconsin

The residents of Wisconsin seemed to have such an affinity for the name Brooklyn that there are four areas within the state named Brooklyn. Between 1840 and 1890, Wisconsin was a major center of Dutch immigration, which may explain the popularity of this Dutch-derived name in the area.

Brooklyn is a village spanning both Dane and Green counties in Wisconsin, with a population of roughly 1,400 according to the 2010 census. Additionally, there is another nearby Brooklyn, a town in Green County, with another 1,000 residents.

Further north, in Green Lake County, Wisconsin, another Brooklyn boasts a population of around 1,000, while in Washburn County, there is yet another town named Brooklyn with several hundred residents.

Former Brooklyns

There are places that were formerly known as Brooklyn, such as Dayton, Kentucky. Moreover, places like Brooklyn Place and Brooklyn Center in Minnesota are nods to their former identity, being part of Brooklyn, Minnesota, which was once a township. The same applies to East Oakland, California, which old maps reveal used to be called Brooklyn.

In the 1960s, a neighborhood in Charlotte, North Carolina, was razed to the ground, and it was formerly known as Brooklyn.

Other Brooklyns

Besides the Netherlands, other countries such as Canada, Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand have adopted the name Brooklyn as well.

Here is a list of other locations named Brooklyn in the U.S.