Brooksby is an English toponymic surname. It derives from the Old English words broc and by, meaning stream and settlement respectively. The name originally referred to someone who lived near or worked at a stream. Brooksby is a habitational name from any of the numerous places so named in England, for example in Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, and Northamptonshire.
The earliest record of the name is found in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as Brokesbi. Other early recordings include Ralph de Brokesby (1130), William de Brookesby (1185), and Henry de Brooksby (1273). Notable people with the surname Brooksby include:
• John Brooksby (died 1616), an English politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1597 and 1611
• Thomas Brooksby (1570–1614), an English landowner and Member of Parliament
• Richard Brooksby (c. 1590–1655), an English Puritan divine
• William Brooksby Winstanley (1827–1903), an English Conservative politician