Brailey
From the Old English name Brægehyll meaning "hill dweller".
Name Census estimates that about 1,156 living Americans carry the first name Brailey. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Brailey today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Brailey births was 2012 (79 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Brailey. 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
- • Brailey is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 15 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.2K
~ 1 in 296,500 Americans
Peak year
2012
79 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2000 SSA rank
#6,653
Tracked since 1994
Census
Brailey in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 977 people with the first name Brailey, which placed it at #12,661 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
#12,661
National first-name rank
People counted
977
977 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
76.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Brailey
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brailey is White at 76.5%. The next largest groups are Black (10.2%) and Hispanic (6.8%). 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 Brailey 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 Brailey at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White76.5% · 747
- Black or African American10.2% · 100
- Hispanic or Latino6.8% · 66
- Two or more races4.5% · 44
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.0% · 20
Gender
Gender distribution for Brailey
Out of the 1,169 babies given the name Brailey since 1880, 99.6% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Brailey as a male name
- Ranked #10,557 in 2000
- 5 male births in 2000
- Peak: 2000 (5 births)
Brailey as a female name
- Ranked #6,653 in 2024
- 17 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2012 (79 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Brailey leans strongly female. 923 people counted with this name were female (94.1%), compared with 58 male bearers (5.9%).
Popularity
Brailey: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Brailey from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 578 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Brailey 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 Brailey during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Braileys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 11 states and territories. Texas, Georgia, Florida recorded the most babies named Brailey, while Louisiana, Illinois, Arkansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 26 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Brailey
The name Brailey is an English name that originated in the late 18th century. It is derived from the Old English word "bræge," meaning "mind" or "intellect." The name was likely given to children with a perceived intelligence or quick wit.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Brailey can be found in the parish records of St. Mary's Church in Warwickshire, England, where a Brailey Atkins was baptized in 1792. The name remained relatively uncommon throughout the 19th century, with only a handful of documented bearers.
In the early 20th century, the name gained some popularity, likely due to the influence of the American educator and inventor Brailey Pettit (1875-1949). Pettit was known for his work in developing tactile reading systems for the blind, and his contributions helped pave the way for the widespread adoption of braille.
Another notable Brailey from this period was the English artist Brailey Willats (1882-1965), whose paintings and etchings of rural landscapes were widely celebrated during his lifetime. Willats' work can be found in the collections of several major museums, including the Tate Gallery in London.
In the realm of literature, the name Brailey is associated with the American novelist Brailey McLeod (1901-1987), whose works often explored themes of family, identity, and the struggles of rural life in the American South. McLeod's most famous novel, "The Homecoming," was published in 1945 and was later adapted into a successful Broadway play.
More recently, the name Brailey has been carried by the American actress Brailey Shaye (born 1981), who is best known for her roles in various television series and independent films throughout the 2000s and 2010s.
While not a common name, Brailey has a rich history that spans several centuries and various creative disciplines. Its origins as a name associated with intelligence and wit have been reflected in the accomplishments of some of its most notable bearers throughout history.
People
Brailey + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Brailey 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
Brailey: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Brailey?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,156 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Brailey 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 296,500 US residents.
Is Brailey a common name?
We classify Brailey as "Rare". It ranks above 91% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,169 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Brailey most popular?
The single biggest year for Brailey was 2012, when 79 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Brailey is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Brailey in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 977 people with the name Brailey, or 0.32 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,661 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 Brailey 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 Brailey?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Brailey leans strongly female. 923 people counted with this name were female (94.1%), compared with 58 male bearers (5.9%). 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 Brailey?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brailey is White at 76.5%. The next largest groups are Black (10.2%) and Hispanic (6.8%). 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 Brailey most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Brailey in the 2020 Census, accounting for 76.5% (747 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 Brailey in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Brailey a female name?
Yes, 99.6% of people registered as Brailey 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 Brailey still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Brailey 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 Brailey 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 people are called Brailey?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.