Brant
From an English surname describing someone from burnt land or fields.
Name Census estimates that about 8,781 living Americans carry the first name Brant. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Brant today is around 40 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Brant births was 1970 (241 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Brant. 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
8.8K
~ 1 in 39,034 Americans
Peak year
1970
241 babies that year
Average age
40
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,891
Tracked since 1918
Gender
Gender distribution for Brant
Out of the 9,545 babies given the name Brant 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.
Brant as a male name
- Ranked #3,891 in 2024
- 28 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1970 (241 births)
Brant as a female name
- Ranked #10,447 in 1983
- 5 female births in 1983
- Peak: 1971 (5 births)
Popularity
Brant: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Brant from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 2,040 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
Brant 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 Brant during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Brants live
The SSA's state-level files cover 37 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Brant, while New Mexico, Maryland, Connecticut recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 143 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Brant
The name Brant is believed to have originated from the Old English word "brant," which means "burned" or "scorched." This name likely emerged during the Anglo-Saxon period in England, which lasted from the 5th to the 11th century.
The name Brant may have been given to individuals who lived in areas affected by fires or had a connection to occupations involving fire, such as blacksmiths or soldiers. It could also have been used as a descriptive name for someone with a tanned or sun-burned complexion.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Brant appears in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of landholdings and households in England completed in 1086 under the orders of William the Conqueror. The book mentions a landowner named Brant in the county of Norfolk.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Brant. One of the most famous was Brant (1742-1807), a Mohawk military leader who fought for the British during the American Revolutionary War. He later became a prominent figure in the political affairs of the Six Nations.
Another notable Brant was Brant Vickers (1904-1988), an American actor and singer who appeared in numerous films and television shows during the 1940s and 1950s. He is best known for his roles in westerns and musicals.
In the literary world, Brant Walker (1920-2009) was an American author and journalist who wrote several novels, including "Topaz," which was adapted into a film by Alfred Hitchcock in 1969.
Brant Bjork (born 1973) is a contemporary American musician and singer-songwriter, known for his work with the stoner rock band Kyuss and his successful solo career.
Brant Gardner (born 1950) is an American author and scholar who has written extensively on the Book of Mormon and its historical and cultural context.
People
Brant + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Brant 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
Brant: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Brant?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 8,781 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Brant 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 39,034 US residents.
Is Brant a common name?
We classify Brant as "Rare". It ranks above 97.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 9,545 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Brant most popular?
The single biggest year for Brant was 1970, when 241 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Brant is about 40 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Brant a male name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Brant 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.
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.