Braydon
A masculine name of English origin meaning "brave".
Name Census estimates that about 14,084 living Americans carry the first name Braydon. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Braydon today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Braydon births was 2009 (1,034 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Braydon. 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 Braydon with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Braydon 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
14K
~ 1 in 24,336 Americans
Peak year
2009
1,034 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,597
Tracked since 1977
Census
Braydon in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 12,382 people with the first name Braydon, which placed it at #2,153 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
#2,153
National first-name rank
People counted
12K
12,382 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
77.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Braydon
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Braydon is White at 77.6%. The next largest groups are Black (6.9%) and Two or More Races (6.6%). 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 Braydon 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 Braydon at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White77.6% · 9,609
- Black or African American6.9% · 850
- Two or more races6.6% · 819
- Hispanic or Latino6.5% · 806
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 159
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 139
Gender
Gender distribution for Braydon
Out of the 14,245 babies given the name Braydon since 1880, 99.8% 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.
Braydon as a male name
- Ranked #1,597 in 2024
- 107 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2009 (1,034 births)
Braydon as a female name
- Ranked #13,601 in 2011
- 7 female births in 2011
- Peak: 2004 (9 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Braydon appears almost entirely male. Of the 12,384 people counted with this name, 99.5% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Braydon: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Braydon from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 6,702 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Braydon 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 Braydon during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Braydons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 49 states and territories. Texas, Ohio, California recorded the most babies named Braydon, while Vermont, Rhode Island, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 261 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Braydon
The name Braydon is believed to have its origins in the Old English language, where it is thought to be a combination of the words "brae" and "dun." The word "brae" is believed to have meant a hillside or slope, while "dun" referred to a hill or fortified place.
This etymology suggests that the name Braydon may have initially been used to describe someone who lived on or near a hillside or fortified location. The name is thought to have emerged during the Anglo-Saxon period in Britain, which lasted from the 5th to the 11th centuries.
While there is no definitive record of the name's earliest use, some scholars believe it may have been mentioned in ancient Anglo-Saxon texts or records, although specific instances are difficult to verify. The name likely evolved over time, with variations in spelling and pronunciation arising as it was passed down through generations.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Braydon was Sir Braydon de Montfort, a knight who lived in the 13th century during the reign of King Henry III of England. Another notable historical figure was Braydon Gower, a 14th-century English poet and friend of Geoffrey Chaucer.
During the Renaissance period, a prominent individual named Braydon Fitzwilliam was a renowned scholar and diplomat who served under Queen Elizabeth I in the 16th century. In the 17th century, Braydon Cromwell was a military officer who fought alongside Oliver Cromwell during the English Civil War.
In more recent history, Braydon Everett was a notable American architect who designed several iconic buildings in New York City during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His most famous work is the Grand Central Terminal, which was completed in 1913.
It is worth noting that the name Braydon has undergone various spelling variations throughout history, including Brayden, Braden, and Braydon, among others. These variations likely emerged as the name was adopted and adapted by different cultures and regions over time.
People
Braydon + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Braydon 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
Braydon: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Braydon?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 14,084 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Braydon 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 24,336 US residents.
Is Braydon a common name?
We classify Braydon as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 14,245 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Braydon most popular?
The single biggest year for Braydon was 2009, when 1,034 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Braydon 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 Braydon in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 12,382 people with the name Braydon, or 4.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,153 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 Braydon 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 Braydon?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Braydon appears almost entirely male. Of the 12,384 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Braydon?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Braydon is White at 77.6%. The next largest groups are Black (6.9%) and Two or More Races (6.6%). 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 Braydon most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Braydon in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.6% (9,609 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 Braydon in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Braydon a male name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Braydon 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 Braydon still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Braydon 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 Braydon 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 are named Braydon?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Braydon at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.