Brantly
Of English origin, meaning a person from the bramble-covered clearing or field.
Name Census estimates that about 848 living Americans carry the first name Brantly. It is a predominantly male name (99.4% of registrations). The average person named Brantly today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Brantly births was 2013 (103 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Brantly. 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
848
~ 1 in 404,191 Americans
Peak year
2013
103 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#12,560
Tracked since 1972
Gender
Gender distribution for Brantly
Out of the 859 babies given the name Brantly 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.
Brantly as a male name
- Ranked #12,560 in 2024
- 5 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2013 (103 births)
Brantly as a female name
- Ranked #17,327 in 2012
- 5 female births in 2012
- Peak: 2012 (5 births)
Popularity
Brantly: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Brantly from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 517 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Brantly 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 Brantly during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Brantlys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 12 states and territories. Texas, Florida, Ohio recorded the most babies named Brantly, while Oklahoma, Indiana, Illinois recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 13 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Brantly
The name Brantly is of English origin, derived from the Old English words "brant" meaning "steep" or "high" and "leah" meaning "woodland clearing" or "meadow". It is believed to have first emerged as a surname in the 12th century, referring to someone who lived near a steep woodland clearing or high meadow.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Brantly can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, which documented landowners in England after the Norman Conquest. The name appeared as "Brantlei", likely referring to a location or estate owned by an individual with that surname.
In the Middle Ages, the name Brantly was occasionally used as a given name, particularly in rural areas of England. However, it remained relatively uncommon until the 16th and 17th centuries when it gained popularity among the English gentry and nobility.
One notable historical figure with the name Brantly was Sir John Brantly (c. 1560-1637), an English politician and Member of Parliament who served during the reigns of King James I and King Charles I. Another was Captain William Brantly (1644-1711), an English naval officer and explorer who sailed with the Royal Navy and made several voyages to the West Indies.
In the 18th century, the name Brantly appeared in various literary works, including the poetry of William Wordsworth and the novels of Jane Austen. One character named Brantly Danvers appeared in Austen's unfinished novel "Sanditon", published posthumously in 1817.
During the 19th century, the name Brantly gained some popularity in the United States, particularly in the southern states. One notable American with the name was Brantly Boyd (1819-1891), a Presbyterian minister and author from Virginia who served as the Chaplain of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.
Another notable figure was Brantly Raleigh (1854-1912), an American lawyer and politician from North Carolina who served as the Attorney General of North Carolina and later as a United States Senator.
In more recent times, the name Brantly has remained relatively uncommon, though it has been used occasionally as a given name in various English-speaking countries. Some notable individuals with the name Brantly include Brantly Somerville (1895-1976), an American jazz musician and bandleader, and Brantly Neville (born 1957), an American stage and television actor.
People
Brantly + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Brantly 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
Brantly: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Brantly?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 848 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Brantly 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 404,191 US residents.
Is Brantly a common name?
We classify Brantly as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 859 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Brantly most popular?
The single biggest year for Brantly was 2013, when 103 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Brantly is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Brantly a male name?
Yes, 99.4% of people registered as Brantly 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.