Brande
A feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly Old English for "firebrand".
Name Census estimates that about 1,051 living Americans carry the first name Brande. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Brande today is around 46 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Brande births was 1974 (173 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Brande. 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.
People living today
1.1K
~ 1 in 326,122 Americans
Peak year
1974
173 babies that year
Average age
46
years old
2004 SSA rank
#16,499
Tracked since 1964
Census
Brande in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,060 people with the first name Brande, which placed it at #11,914 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
#11,914
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,060 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
71.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Brande
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brande is White at 71.5%. The next largest groups are Black (18.1%) and Hispanic (4.4%). 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 Brande 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 Brande at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White71.5% · 758
- Black or African American18.1% · 192
- Hispanic or Latino4.4% · 47
- Two or more races4.4% · 47
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 10
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 6
Popularity
Brande: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Brande from the 1960s through to the 2000s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 652 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Brande 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 Brande during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Brandes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 15 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Brande, while Pennsylvania, Missouri, South Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 20 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Brande
The name Brande is of German origin, derived from the Old High German word "brant," which means "to burn" or "firebrand." It has its roots in the ancient Germanic languages and was initially used as a descriptive name, possibly referring to someone with a fiery personality or a profession related to fire, such as a blacksmith or a glassblower.
The earliest recorded use of the name Brande dates back to the 12th century, when it appeared in various Germanic records and chronicles. During this time, it was primarily used as a surname or a byname, a descriptive name added to a person's given name to distinguish them from others with the same name.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Brande was a German knight named Brande von Oldenburg, who lived in the late 12th century. He was a prominent figure in the Holy Roman Empire and is mentioned in several historical documents from that period.
In the 15th century, the name Brande gained some prominence with the birth of Brande Duvoisin, a French nobleman and military commander who fought in the Hundred Years' War. He was born in 1410 and played a significant role in several battles against the English forces.
Another notable figure with the name Brande was the Dutch painter Brande van Orley, who lived from 1488 to 1541. He was a prominent artist during the Renaissance period and is known for his religious paintings and altarpieces, many of which can be found in churches and museums across Europe.
In the 17th century, Brande Mortensen, a Danish sailor and explorer, made his mark on history. He was part of the crew that accompanied the famous Danish explorer Vitus Bering on his expeditions to the Arctic regions in the 1720s and 1730s.
The 19th century saw the birth of Brande Henriksen, a Norwegian writer and poet who lived from 1838 to 1908. He was a prominent figure in the Romantic movement in Norwegian literature and is best known for his lyrical poetry and novels that explored the themes of love, nature, and the human condition.
While the name Brande has its origins in the Germanic languages, it has also been used in other cultures and languages over the centuries, though its popularity has varied. It remains a unique and distinctive name with a rich historical background, reflecting its connections to fire, passion, and notable individuals who have carried this name throughout history.
People
Brande + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Brande 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
Brande: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Brande?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,051 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Brande 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 326,122 US residents.
Is Brande a common name?
We classify Brande as "Rare". It ranks above 90.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,141 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Brande most popular?
The single biggest year for Brande was 1974, when 173 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Brande is about 46 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Brande in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,060 people with the name Brande, or 0.35 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,914 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 Brande 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 Brande?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Brande leans strongly female. 1,038 people counted with this name were female (96.8%), compared with 34 male bearers (3.2%). 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 Brande?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brande is White at 71.5%. The next largest groups are Black (18.1%) and Hispanic (4.4%). 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 Brande most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Brande in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.5% (758 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 Brande in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Brande a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Brande 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 Brande still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Brande 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 Brande 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 common is the name Brande?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.