Brandi
A feminine name derived from the German word "brand", meaning fiery or glowing.
Name Census estimates that about 95,885 living Americans carry the first name Brandi. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Brandi today is around 41 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Brandi births was 1981 (5,551 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Brandi. 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 Brandi with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Brandi is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 389 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1980s, recent registration numbers for Brandi have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
96K
~ 1 in 3,575 Americans
Peak year
1981
5,551 babies that year
Average age
41
years old
2006 SSA rank
#4,290
Tracked since 1949
Census
Brandi in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 84,733 people with the first name Brandi, which placed it at #622 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
#622
National first-name rank
People counted
85K
84,733 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
28.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
75.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Brandi
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brandi is White at 75.7%. The next largest groups are Black (13.1%) and Hispanic (5.2%). 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 Brandi 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 Brandi at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White75.7% · 64,117
- Black or African American13.1% · 11,071
- Hispanic or Latino5.2% · 4,409
- Two or more races4.4% · 3,761
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 928
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 447
Gender
Gender distribution for Brandi
Out of the 102,267 babies given the name Brandi 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.
Brandi as a male name
- Ranked #10,833 in 2006
- 6 male births in 2006
- Peak: 1979 (27 births)
Brandi as a female name
- Ranked #4,290 in 2024
- 33 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1981 (5,527 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Brandi appears almost entirely female. Of the 84,737 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Brandi: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Brandi from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 43,090 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Brandi 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 Brandi during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Brandis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Brandi, while Rhode Island, Vermont, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,960 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Brandi
The name Brandi is derived from the French term "brandir," which means "to brandish" or "to wave." This term has its roots in the Old French word "bran," meaning a sword or a brand. The name Brandi likely originated as a nickname or a descriptive term for someone who was skilled in wielding a sword or other weapon.
During the Middle Ages, the name Brandi was primarily used as a masculine name in France and other parts of Europe. One of the earliest known references to the name can be found in the 12th-century French epic poem "La Chanson de Roland" (The Song of Roland), where a character named Brandi is mentioned as a knight in Charlemagne's army.
Over time, the name Brandi transitioned into a feminine form, particularly in English-speaking countries. It gained popularity as a given name for girls in the 20th century, though its usage can be traced back to the 19th century.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Brandi as a feminine given name is Brandi Elyse (1890-1976), an American actress and vaudeville performer who was active during the early 20th century. Another notable figure with this name was Brandi Chastain (born 1968), an American former soccer player who famously celebrated her game-winning penalty kick in the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup by removing her jersey.
In literature, the name Brandi appears in the works of several authors, including the character Brandi Leigh Quartermann in the novel "The Accidental Tourist" by Anne Tyler (1985). Additionally, the name was used for the character Brandi Svenning in the novel "Less Than Zero" by Bret Easton Ellis (1985).
Other notable individuals with the first name Brandi include Brandi Glanville (born 1972), an American television personality and author, and Brandi Carlile (born 1981), an American singer-songwriter and multiple Grammy Award winner.
Overall, the name Brandi has evolved from its roots as a masculine French term associated with swordsmanship to a popular feminine given name in modern times, particularly in English-speaking countries.
People
Brandi + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Brandi 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
Brandi: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Brandi?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 95,885 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Brandi 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 3,575 US residents.
Is Brandi a common name?
We classify Brandi as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 102,267 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Brandi most popular?
The single biggest year for Brandi was 1981, when 5,551 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Brandi is about 41 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Brandi in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 84,733 people with the name Brandi, or 28.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #622 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 Brandi 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 Brandi?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Brandi appears almost entirely female. Of the 84,737 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Brandi?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brandi is White at 75.7%. The next largest groups are Black (13.1%) and Hispanic (5.2%). 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 Brandi most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Brandi in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.7% (64,117 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 Brandi in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Brandi a female name?
Yes, 99.6% of people registered as Brandi 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 Brandi still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Brandi 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 Brandi 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 Brandi?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.