Brandt
A masculine given name of Germanic origin meaning "fire" or "burning".
Name Census estimates that about 5,772 living Americans carry the first name Brandt. It is a predominantly male name (99.4% of registrations). The average person named Brandt today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Brandt births was 2007 (141 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Brandt. 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
5.8K
~ 1 in 59,382 Americans
Peak year
2007
141 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,269
Tracked since 1915
Census
Brandt in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,249 people with the first name Brandt, which placed it at #3,778 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
#3,778
National first-name rank
People counted
5.2K
5,249 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
89.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Brandt
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brandt is White at 89.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.8%) and Hispanic (3.1%). 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 Brandt 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 Brandt at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White89.1% · 4,676
- Two or more races3.8% · 200
- Hispanic or Latino3.1% · 165
- Black or African American2.4% · 126
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 55
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 27
Gender
Gender distribution for Brandt
Out of the 6,127 babies given the name Brandt since 1880, 99.4% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Brandt as a male name
- Ranked #3,269 in 2024
- 36 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2007 (141 births)
Brandt as a female name
- Ranked #12,024 in 1988
- 5 female births in 1988
- Peak: 1983 (8 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Brandt appears almost entirely male. Of the 5,245 people counted with this name, 99.2% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Brandt: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Brandt from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 1,196 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
Brandt 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 Brandt during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Brandts live
The SSA's state-level files cover 29 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Brandt, while North Carolina, Alabama, Maryland recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 87 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Brandt
The name Brandt has its origins in the Germanic languages, deriving from the Old High German word "brant," which means "fire" or "burning." It is thought to have initially emerged as a surname or descriptive name in medieval times, potentially referring to someone who worked with fire, such as a blacksmith or someone who cleared land by burning.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Brandt dates back to the 13th century, with mentions of individuals bearing this surname in various regions of Germany. It gained popularity as a given name in the following centuries, particularly in Germanic-speaking regions of Europe.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Brandt. One of the most prominent is Willy Brandt (1913-1992), a German statesman and politician who served as the Chancellor of West Germany from 1969 to 1974. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1971 for his efforts in promoting reconciliation between West Germany and the countries of Eastern Europe.
Another historically significant figure was Sebastian Brandt (1457-1521), a German satirist and humanist writer best known for his allegorical work "The Ship of Fools." This influential book, published in 1494, satirized the follies and vices of contemporary society.
In the realm of science, we find Georg Brandt (1694-1768), a Swedish chemist and mineralogist who is credited with discovering the chemical element cobalt in 1735. His groundbreaking work contributed significantly to the advancement of chemistry and mineralogy.
Moving to the arts, Marianne Brandt (1893-1983) was a influential German painter, sculptor, and designer associated with the Bauhaus movement. Her innovative metalwork designs, particularly in the field of industrial design, left a lasting impact on modern aesthetics.
Lastly, we have Bill Brandt (1904-1983), a renowned British photographer and photojournalist who is widely regarded as one of the most influential photographers of the 20th century. His stark and evocative images, often capturing the contrasts of British society, earned him widespread acclaim and recognition.
People
Brandt + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Brandt 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
Brandt: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Brandt?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5,772 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Brandt 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 59,382 US residents.
Is Brandt a common name?
We classify Brandt as "Rare". It ranks above 96.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6,127 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Brandt most popular?
The single biggest year for Brandt was 2007, when 141 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Brandt is about 32 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Brandt in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,249 people with the name Brandt, or 1.74 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,778 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 Brandt 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 Brandt?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Brandt appears almost entirely male. Of the 5,245 people counted with this name, 99.2% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Brandt?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brandt is White at 89.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.8%) and Hispanic (3.1%). 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 Brandt most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Brandt in the 2020 Census, accounting for 89.1% (4,676 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 Brandt in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Brandt a male name?
Yes, 99.4% of people registered as Brandt 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 Brandt still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Brandt 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 Brandt 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 Brandt?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Brandt at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.