Brannen
A variant of an Irish surname derived from the Gaelic word "bran" meaning raven or crow.
Name Census estimates that about 366 living Americans carry the first name Brannen. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Brannen today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Brannen births was 2002 (21 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Brannen. 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
366
~ 1 in 936,487 Americans
Peak year
2002
21 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
2019 SSA rank
#10,977
Tracked since 1970
Census
Brannen in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 370 people with the first name Brannen, which placed it at #25,584 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
#25,584
National first-name rank
People counted
370
370 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
78.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Brannen
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brannen is White at 78.4%. The next largest groups are Black (8.4%) and Two or More Races (5.1%). 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 Brannen 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 Brannen at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White78.4% · 290
- Black or African American8.4% · 31
- Two or more races5.1% · 19
- Hispanic or Latino4.6% · 17
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.4% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 4
Popularity
Brannen: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Brannen from the 1970s through to the 2010s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 122 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Brannen remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Brannen 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 Brannen during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Brannens live
Origin
Meaning and history of Brannen
The given name Brannen is believed to have its origins in the ancient Celtic languages. It is derived from the Old Welsh word "brann," which means "crow" or "raven." The name likely originated in regions of present-day Britain and Ireland where Celtic languages were spoken.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Brannen can be found in the Welsh Triads, a collection of traditional stories and folklore dating back to the 13th century. In these texts, Brannen is mentioned as the name of a legendary Welsh warrior who fought against the invading Saxons.
During the Middle Ages, the name Brannen gained popularity among the Welsh nobility and was often associated with courage and strength, possibly due to its connection with the powerful and revered raven. Several historical records from this period mention individuals bearing this name, although their exact identities and achievements are now lost to time.
In the 16th century, a notable figure named Brannen ap Rhys was a prominent Welsh landowner and military commander who fought alongside the English forces during the Wars of the Roses. He is recorded as having played a significant role in several battles, including the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485.
Another individual named Brannen Owain lived in the late 17th century and was a renowned Welsh bard and poet. His compositions, which celebrated Welsh culture and history, were widely acclaimed and helped preserve the language and traditions of his people.
In the 19th century, a Scottish explorer and naturalist named Brannen MacDonald made significant contributions to the study of flora and fauna in the remote regions of the Canadian Arctic. His detailed journals and observations provided valuable insights into the natural world of these untamed lands.
Brannen has also been used as a given name in various parts of Europe, although its popularity has waned in recent centuries. Despite its ancient roots, the name has managed to maintain a presence throughout history, serving as a reminder of the enduring cultural heritage of the Celtic peoples.
People
Brannen + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Brannen 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
Brannen: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Brannen?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 366 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Brannen 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 936,487 US residents.
Is Brannen a common name?
We classify Brannen as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 376 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Brannen most popular?
The single biggest year for Brannen was 2002, when 21 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Brannen is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Brannen in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 370 people with the name Brannen, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #25,584 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 Brannen 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 Brannen?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Brannen leans strongly male. 350 people counted with this name were male (93.3%), compared with 25 female bearers (6.7%). 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 Brannen?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brannen is White at 78.4%. The next largest groups are Black (8.4%) and Two or More Races (5.1%). 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 Brannen most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Brannen in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.4% (290 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 Brannen in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Brannen a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Brannen 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 Brannen still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Brannen 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 Brannen 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 have the name Brannen?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.