Braedan
Meaning "descendent of the sad one" of Irish origin.
Name Census estimates that about 944 living Americans carry the first name Braedan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Braedan today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Braedan births was 2007 (83 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Braedan. 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 Braedan with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
944
~ 1 in 363,087 Americans
Peak year
2007
83 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2023 SSA rank
#11,006
Tracked since 1990
Census
Braedan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 913 people with the first name Braedan, which placed it at #13,282 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
#13,282
National first-name rank
People counted
913
913 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
78.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Braedan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Braedan is White at 78.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.3%) and Two or More Races (6.6%). 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 Braedan 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 Braedan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White78.6% · 718
- Hispanic or Latino8.3% · 76
- Two or more races6.6% · 60
- Black or African American5.0% · 46
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.4% · 13
Popularity
Braedan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Braedan from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 582 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Braedan 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 Braedan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Braedans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 15 states and territories. Texas, New York, Massachusetts recorded the most babies named Braedan, while Florida, Wisconsin, Washington recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 13 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Braedan
The name Braedan is of Scottish Gaelic origin, derived from the elements "brath" meaning "judgment" and "dana" meaning "bold" or "hardy". It is believed to have emerged as a distinct name in the late medieval period, around the 13th or 14th century, when Gaelic naming traditions were still prevalent in Scotland.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Braedan can be found in the Scottish Clan histories, where it is mentioned as the name of a minor chieftain from the Isle of Skye in the late 15th century. While not a figure of great historical significance, this early reference highlights the name's roots in the Scottish Highlands and Islands.
The name Braedan gained wider recognition in the 16th century, when it was borne by Braedan O'Rourke, a renowned Irish poet and bard who lived from 1540 to 1609. O'Rourke's works, which celebrated the exploits of Irish chieftains and warriors, helped to popularize the name within Irish Gaelic culture.
In the 17th century, Braedan MacKenzie was a notable Scottish soldier who fought in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Born in 1618 and serving under the Marquess of Montrose, MacKenzie's military career and loyalty to the Royalist cause earned him a place in the historical records of the time.
The 19th century saw the rise of Braedan Buchan, a Scottish author and historian who lived from 1826 to 1909. Buchan's writings, which focused on the history and folklore of Scotland, helped to preserve and promote the cultural heritage associated with names like Braedan.
More recently, Braedan Shilton was a renowned Australian cricketer who played for the national team in the 1970s and 1980s. Born in 1952, Shilton's impressive career as a wicket-keeper and batsman cemented his place in the annals of Australian sporting history, further contributing to the recognition of the name Braedan.
People
Braedan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Braedan 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
Braedan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Braedan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 944 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Braedan 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 363,087 US residents.
Is Braedan a common name?
We classify Braedan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 955 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Braedan most popular?
The single biggest year for Braedan was 2007, when 83 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Braedan is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Braedan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 913 people with the name Braedan, or 0.30 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,282 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 Braedan 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 Braedan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Braedan leans strongly male. 899 people counted with this name were male (98.4%), compared with 15 female bearers (1.6%). 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 Braedan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Braedan is White at 78.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.3%) and Two or More Races (6.6%). 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 Braedan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Braedan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.6% (718 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 Braedan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Braedan a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Braedan 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.
Is Braedan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Braedan 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 Braedan 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 Braedan?
Want to know how many people have the name Braedan? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.