Brayden
Of English origin, referring to a broad valley or meadow.
Name Census estimates that about 134,711 living Americans carry the first name Brayden. It sits at #190 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (99.2% of registrations). The average person named Brayden today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Brayden births was 2010 (9,165 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Brayden. 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 Brayden with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Brayden is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 1,058 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Brayden is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 15 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
135K
~ 1 in 2,544 Americans
Peak year
2010
9,165 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#190
Tracked since 1970
Census
Brayden in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 109,058 people with the first name Brayden, which placed it at #521 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
#521
National first-name rank
People counted
109K
109,058 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
36.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
77.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Brayden
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brayden is White at 77.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.0%) and Two or More Races (6.5%). 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 Brayden 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 Brayden at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White77.0% · 83,955
- Hispanic or Latino8.0% · 8,681
- Two or more races6.5% · 7,102
- Black or African American5.9% · 6,443
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.8% · 1,944
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 933
Gender
Gender distribution for Brayden
Out of the 136,031 babies given the name Brayden since 1880, 99.2% 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.
Brayden as a male name
- Ranked #190 in 2024
- 1,917 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2010 (9,119 births)
Brayden as a female name
- Ranked #9,014 in 2024
- 11 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2004 (79 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Brayden appears almost entirely male. Of the 109,062 people counted with this name, 99.1% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Brayden: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Brayden 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 66,258 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
Brayden 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 Brayden during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Braydens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Brayden, while District of Columbia, Vermont, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 2,634 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Brayden
The name Brayden is a relatively modern name, originating in the late 20th century. It is an English name, believed to be a variant or combination of the names Braden and Braydon. The name is thought to have been derived from the Old English word "brad," meaning broad or wide.
While the name Brayden itself is a modern creation, the root word "brad" has a long history in English-speaking cultures. It can be found in various place names and surnames dating back to medieval times, such as Bradshaw and Bradford.
The earliest recorded use of the name Brayden is difficult to pinpoint precisely, as it rose to popularity only in recent decades. However, some of the earliest known individuals with the name Brayden include:
1. Brayden Schenn, a Canadian professional ice hockey player born in 1991.
2. Brayden Tracey, a Canadian junior ice hockey player born in 2001.
3. Brayden Ennor, a New Zealand rugby union player born in 1997.
4. Brayden Moore, an American professional baseball player born in 1997.
5. Brayden Griffith, a Canadian actor and model active in the 2010s.
While the name Brayden is relatively new, its roots in Old English and its increasing popularity in recent decades have established it as a recognizable name in English-speaking cultures. As a modern name, its historical significance lies in its reflection of contemporary naming trends and preferences rather than a deep-rooted cultural or linguistic heritage.
People
Brayden + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Brayden 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
Brayden: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Brayden?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 134,711 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Brayden 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 2,544 US residents.
Is Brayden a common name?
We classify Brayden as "Common". It ranks above 99.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 136,031 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Brayden most popular?
The single biggest year for Brayden was 2010, when 9,165 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Brayden 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 Brayden in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 109,058 people with the name Brayden, or 36.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #521 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 Brayden 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 Brayden?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Brayden appears almost entirely male. Of the 109,062 people counted with this name, 99.1% 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 Brayden?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brayden is White at 77.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.0%) and Two or More Races (6.5%). 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 Brayden most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Brayden in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.0% (83,955 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 Brayden in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Brayden a male name?
Yes, 99.2% of people registered as Brayden 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 Brayden still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Brayden 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 Brayden 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 Americans are named Brayden?
Want to know how many people have the name Brayden? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.