Recorded in many spelling forms including Shobrook, Shobbrook, Shoorbrooke, and Shirbrook, this is an English locational name which derives originally from the village of Shirbrook in Derbyshire. The village is first recorded as Scirebroc" in the register for the county known as "The Feet of Fines" in the year1202, during the reign of King John. The village name translates as "the dweller by the bright water", from the Olde English pre 7th century "sher broc". Like most locational surnames, it was given to people after they left their original village. The more unusual the original village spelling, the more varied the later surnames. In this case different spellings found in the relevant church registers of the late medieval period, include such examples as Alyce Sherebrooke, who married John Arnold in 1586 at the famous church of St Mary-Le-Bone, London, and this would seem to be the same Alice who was christened as Sherbrook in 1567. In the year 1612, Rachel Shoorbrooke was christened at St. Giles Cripplegate, London, whilst another variant spelling was that of Shorbrocke also found in London in 1606, but not subsequently. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Alice Sherbrooke. which was dated 1567 ,baptised at the church of St. Bartholmew Exchange, in the city of London, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1st, known as "Good Queen Bess", 1558 - 1603.