Bradleigh
A masculine name considered an elaboration of Bradley, derived from an Old English surname.
Name Census estimates that about 476 living Americans carry the first name Bradleigh. It is a predominantly female name (97.7% of registrations). The average person named Bradleigh today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bradleigh births was 2014 (41 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bradleigh. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Bradleigh with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
476
~ 1 in 720,072 Americans
Peak year
2014
41 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2013 SSA rank
#8,509
Tracked since 1987
Census
Bradleigh in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 456 people with the first name Bradleigh, which placed it at #22,008 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#22,008
National first-name rank
People counted
456
456 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
72.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bradleigh
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bradleigh is White at 72.8%. The next largest groups are Black (11.2%) and Two or More Races (7.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Bradleigh described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Bradleigh at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White72.8% · 332
- Black or African American11.2% · 51
- Two or more races7.7% · 35
- Hispanic or Latino6.4% · 29
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 6
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Bradleigh
Bradleigh leans heavily female at 97.7% of total registrations, but 11 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Bradleigh as a male name
- Ranked #12,387 in 2013
- 5 male births in 2013
- Peak: 2005 (6 births)
Bradleigh as a female name
- Ranked #8,509 in 2024
- 12 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2014 (41 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bradleigh leans strongly female. 385 people counted with this name were female (84.6%), compared with 70 male bearers (15.4%).
Popularity
Bradleigh: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bradleigh from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 238 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Bradleigh remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Bradleigh 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 Bradleigh during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Bradleighs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Bradleigh
The name Bradleigh is believed to have originated in England during the medieval period, potentially as a locational surname derived from the Old English words "brad" (meaning broad) and "leah" (meaning a meadow or clearing). Its earliest recorded spellings include Bradeleye and Bradelee, both found in the Domesday Book of 1086.
One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Richard de Bradelee, who was recorded in the Pipe Rolls of Staffordshire in 1197. In the 13th century, the name appeared in various forms, such as Bradeley, Bradelegh, and Bradeleygh, reflecting regional variations in pronunciation and spelling.
While the name Bradleigh does not appear to have any direct references in ancient texts or religious scriptures, its English origins and association with rural landscapes align with the cultural and linguistic traditions of the region during the medieval period.
Among notable historical figures with the name Bradleigh, one can mention Sir Thomas Bradleigh (c. 1548-1624), an English politician who served as a Member of Parliament for Wigan during the reign of Elizabeth I. Another prominent bearer was William Bradleigh (1594-1675), an English clergyman and academic who served as the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge in the mid-17th century.
In the 18th century, Bradleigh Walters (1725-1794) was a British military officer who served in the Royal Navy and played a role in the American Revolutionary War. Moving into the 19th century, Bradleigh Ellery (1801-1876) was an American poet and educator from Massachusetts, known for his contributions to the literary scene of the time.
One of the more recent historical figures with the name was Bradleigh Mills (1882-1938), an English cricketer who played first-class cricket for Gloucestershire County Cricket Club in the early 20th century.
While the name Bradleigh has maintained a presence throughout history, its popularity has fluctuated over time, reflecting the changing trends and preferences in naming conventions across different eras and regions.
People
Bradleigh + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bradleigh 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
Bradleigh: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bradleigh?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 476 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bradleigh 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 720,072 US residents.
Is Bradleigh a common name?
We classify Bradleigh as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 482 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bradleigh most popular?
The single biggest year for Bradleigh was 2014, when 41 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bradleigh is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bradleigh in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 456 people with the name Bradleigh, or 0.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #22,008 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Bradleigh in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Bradleigh?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bradleigh leans strongly female. 385 people counted with this name were female (84.6%), compared with 70 male bearers (15.4%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Bradleigh?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bradleigh is White at 72.8%. The next largest groups are Black (11.2%) and Two or More Races (7.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Bradleigh most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Bradleigh in the 2020 Census, accounting for 72.8% (332 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Bradleigh in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bradleigh a female name?
Yes, 97.7% of people registered as Bradleigh in the SSA data are female. 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.
Is Bradleigh still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bradleigh in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Bradleigh can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
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.
How many Americans are named Bradleigh?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.