Bradely
A masculine name of Old English origin meaning "broad meadow".
Name Census estimates that about 56 living Americans carry the first name Bradely. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Bradely today is around 46 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bradely births was 1969 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bradely. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Bradely. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
56
~ 1 in 6,120,613 Americans
Peak year
1969
11 babies that year
Average age
46
years old
1989 SSA rank
#8,035
Tracked since 1961
Popularity
Bradely: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bradely from the 1960s through to the 1980s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 35 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Bradely by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Bradely during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Bradely
The name Bradely has its origins in the English language and can be traced back to the Middle English era, roughly spanning the 11th to 15th centuries. It is derived from the Old English words "brad" and "leah," which together mean "broad meadow" or "wide clearing in a forest."
Some linguists suggest that the name may also have roots in the Old Norse language, with "brad" meaning "broad" and "leyar" referring to a "meadow" or "pasture." This Nordic influence on English names is not surprising, given the Viking invasions and settlements that occurred in parts of Britain during the early medieval period.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Bradely can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of land ownership and taxation commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. This suggests that the name was already in use among the Anglo-Saxon population at that time.
In religious texts, the name Bradely appears in the Wakefield Mystery Plays, a series of medieval cycle plays based on biblical stories, which were performed in the town of Wakefield, Yorkshire, in the late 15th century. One of the characters in these plays bears the name Bradely.
Notable historical figures who carried the name Bradely include Sir Thomas Bradely (1433–1497), an English soldier and courtier who served under King Henry VII. Another was Henry Bradely (1580–1646), an English clergyman and scholar who served as the Dean of Westminster Abbey from 1642 until his death.
In the realm of literature, the name Bradely can be found in the works of the English writer and philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679), who mentions a character named Bradely in his philosophical treatise "Leviathan" published in 1651.
An influential figure in the field of natural history was Richard Bradely (1688–1732), an English botanist and author who wrote extensively on the cultivation of plants and gardening techniques. His work, "New Improvements of Planting and Gardening," published in 1717, was highly influential in its time.
Lastly, a notable military figure was General Omar Nelson Bradely (1893–1981), an American Army officer who served as the first Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and played a crucial role in the Allied victory during World War II. He is widely regarded as one of the most decorated and influential military leaders in American history.
People
Bradely + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bradely as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with B
Other first names starting with B with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Bradely: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bradely?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 56 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bradely going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 6,120,613 US residents.
Is Bradely a common name?
We classify Bradely as "Very Rare". It ranks above 56% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 60 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bradely most popular?
The single biggest year for Bradely was 1969, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bradely is about 46 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Bradely a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Bradely in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.