Branson
An English surname transferred to masculine given name of uncertain meaning.
Name Census estimates that about 7,801 living Americans carry the first name Branson. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Branson today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Branson births was 2014 (377 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Branson. 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 Branson with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Branson is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 18 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
7.8K
~ 1 in 43,937 Americans
Peak year
2014
377 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,101
Tracked since 1912
Census
Branson in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 6,078 people with the first name Branson, which placed it at #3,427 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
#3,427
National first-name rank
People counted
6.1K
6,078 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
81.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Branson
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Branson is White at 81.5%. The next largest groups are Black (5.2%) and Two or More Races (5.0%). 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 Branson 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 Branson at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White81.5% · 4,951
- Black or African American5.2% · 318
- Two or more races5.0% · 305
- Hispanic or Latino4.8% · 293
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.1% · 129
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 82
Gender
Gender distribution for Branson
Out of the 8,064 babies given the name Branson since 1880, 99.9% 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.
Branson as a male name
- Ranked #1,101 in 2024
- 194 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2014 (377 births)
Branson as a female name
- Ranked #16,151 in 2003
- 5 female births in 2003
- Peak: 2003 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Branson appears almost entirely male. Of the 6,068 people counted with this name, 99.3% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Branson: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Branson from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 3,279 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Branson remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Branson 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 Branson during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Bransons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 35 states and territories. Texas, Ohio, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Branson, while Nevada, Missouri, Arkansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 165 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Branson
The name Branson finds its origins in Old English, tracing back to the 11th century. It is derived from the Old English words "bran," meaning "brand" or "burn," and "tun," meaning "settlement" or "enclosure." Thus, the name likely referred to a settlement or enclosure near a burned or branded area.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Branson appears in the Domesday Book of 1086, a comprehensive survey of land and property commissioned by William the Conqueror. The entry mentions a landowner named Branson in the county of Lincolnshire, England.
During the Middle Ages, the name Branson was relatively uncommon but could be found scattered across various regions of England. Notable historical figures with the name include Sir John Branson, a 14th-century English knight who served under King Edward III during the Hundred Years' War.
In the 16th century, the name gained some prominence with the birth of Thomas Branson (1548-1614), an English clergyman and author who served as the rector of Whitchurch in Shropshire. His published works included religious treatises and sermons.
Moving into the 17th century, Richard Branson (1615-1675) was an English politician who served as a Member of Parliament for Winchelsea, a borough in East Sussex, during the reign of Charles II.
Fast-forwarding to the 19th century, Joseph Branson (1819-1898) was a notable English astronomer and mathematician. He made significant contributions to the study of comets and served as the president of the Royal Astronomical Society from 1880 to 1882.
Another notable figure with the name Branson was Sir Geoffrey Branson (1892-1957), a British civil servant who played a crucial role in the establishment of the United Nations. He served as the first president of the United Nations Trusteeship Council from 1946 to 1948.
People
Branson + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Branson 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
Branson: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Branson?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 7,801 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Branson 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 43,937 US residents.
Is Branson a common name?
We classify Branson as "Rare". It ranks above 97.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 8,064 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Branson most popular?
The single biggest year for Branson was 2014, when 377 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Branson is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Branson in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 6,078 people with the name Branson, or 2.01 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,427 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 Branson 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 Branson?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Branson appears almost entirely male. Of the 6,068 people counted with this name, 99.3% 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 Branson?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Branson is White at 81.5%. The next largest groups are Black (5.2%) and Two or More Races (5.0%). 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 Branson most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Branson in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.5% (4,951 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 Branson in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Branson a male name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Branson 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 Branson still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Branson 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 Branson 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 Branson?
See how many people have the name Branson on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.