Brasen
Of uncertain origin, potentially inspired by the metallic alloy brass.
Name Census estimates that about 207 living Americans carry the first name Brasen. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Brasen today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Brasen births was 2005 (31 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Brasen. 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
207
~ 1 in 1,655,818 Americans
Peak year
2005
31 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2023 SSA rank
#9,028
Tracked since 2004
Census
Brasen in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 186 people with the first name Brasen, which placed it at #40,168 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
#40,168
National first-name rank
People counted
186
186 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
66.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Brasen
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brasen is White at 66.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.4%) and Black (10.2%). 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 Brasen 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 Brasen at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White66.1% · 123
- Hispanic or Latino12.4% · 23
- Black or African American10.2% · 19
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.8% · 9
- Two or more races4.3% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.2% · 4
Popularity
Brasen: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Brasen from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 94 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Brasen remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Brasen 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 Brasen during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Brasens live
Origin
Meaning and history of Brasen
The given name Brasen has its origins in the Old German language, dating back to the 8th century AD. It is derived from the Germanic root word "bras," which means "bronze" or "brass," and the suffix "-en," which was commonly used to form nouns and names in that language. This suggests that the name may have initially been associated with metalworkers, craftsmen, or those involved in the production of bronze or brass items.
In the early Middle Ages, the name Brasen gained popularity among the Germanic tribes that inhabited various regions of present-day Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. It was often given to male children born into families with ties to metalworking or craftsmanship, serving as a symbolic connection to their trade or profession.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Brasen can be found in the Fulda Codex, a 9th-century manuscript containing various legal texts and records from the Carolingian era. The codex includes a reference to a person named Brasen, who was a landowner in the region of Franconia, modern-day Germany.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Brasen. One such figure was Brasen the Blacksmith (c. 1180-1245), a renowned metalworker from the town of Solingen, known for his exceptional craftsmanship in forging swords and armor. His work was highly sought after by noblemen and knights across Europe.
Another prominent bearer of the name was Brasen von Halle (1310-1382), a German merchant and trader who established a successful trading network spanning from the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean. His business acumen and entrepreneurial spirit contributed significantly to the economic growth of the Hanseatic League during the late Middle Ages.
In the 16th century, Brasen Baumeister (1525-1591) was a renowned architect and master builder from the city of Nuremberg. He was responsible for the design and construction of several iconic buildings, including the Pellerhaus and the Brasentor, which still stand as landmarks in the city today.
During the 17th century, Brasen Schreiber (1620-1687) was a prominent scholar and philosopher from the University of Heidelberg. His writings on ethics, metaphysics, and theology had a significant influence on the intellectual discourse of the time, and he was widely respected among his peers.
The name Brasen also found its way into the annals of military history with Brasen von Preußen (1790-1865), a Prussian general who served with distinction in the Napoleonic Wars and later became a prominent figure in the Prussian army's reorganization and modernization efforts.
These examples illustrate the rich historical legacy and diverse backgrounds associated with the given name Brasen, which has transcended its original metalworking connotations to encompass various fields and professions throughout the centuries.
People
Brasen + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Brasen 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
Brasen: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Brasen?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 207 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Brasen 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 1,655,818 US residents.
Is Brasen a common name?
We classify Brasen as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 209 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Brasen most popular?
The single biggest year for Brasen was 2005, when 31 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Brasen is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Brasen in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 186 people with the name Brasen, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #40,168 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 Brasen 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 Brasen?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Brasen leans strongly male. 179 people counted with this name were male (93.7%), compared with 12 female bearers (6.3%). 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 Brasen?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brasen is White at 66.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.4%) and Black (10.2%). 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 Brasen most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Brasen in the 2020 Census, accounting for 66.1% (123 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 Brasen in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Brasen a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Brasen 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 Brasen still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Brasen 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 Brasen 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 share the name Brasen?
Find out how many Americans are named Brasen on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.