English: habitational name from any of various places, for example in Derbyshire, Dorset, and Suffolk, so called from Old English hol ‘hollow’, ‘sunken’ + brōc ‘stream’. The name has probably absorbed the Dutch surname van Hoobroek, found in London in the early 17th century, and possibly a similar Low German surname (Holbrock or Halbrock). Several American bearers of the name in the 1880 census give their place of birth as Oldenburg or Hannover, Germany.
FOREBEARS This name was first taken to America by the brothers Thomas and John Holbrook, who emigrated to MA in the 17th century; their line can be traced back to Dundry, Somerset, in the first half of the 16th century. Other English bearers who started early lines of descent in the New World are Joseph Ho(u)lbrook of Warrington, Lancashire, who emigrated to MD as an indentured servant in the later 17th century; Randolph Holbrook, who was in VA in the 1720s but later returned to Nantwich, Cheshire; and Rev. John Holbrook, who emigrated from Handbury, Staffordshire, to NJ in about 1723. The spelling Haulbrook originated in GA in the 1870s, reflecting the southern U.S. pronunciation of the name.
