Brayston
A variant spelling of the masculine English name Brayden meaning "brave protector".
Name Census estimates that about 6 living Americans carry the first name Brayston. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Brayston today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Brayston births was 2014 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Brayston. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Brayston. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
6
~ 1 in 57,125,723 Americans
Peak year
2014
6 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2014 SSA rank
#10,900
Tracked since 2014
Popularity
Brayston: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Brayston 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 Brayston during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010s | 6 | 0 | 6 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Brayston
The given name Brayston is believed to have originated in England during the Middle Ages. It is thought to be a variant of the Old English name Brayston, which was derived from the elements "bræge" meaning "brave" and "tun" meaning "town" or "enclosure."
This name was likely given to individuals who lived in or came from a town or settlement known for its brave or courageous residents. The earliest recorded spelling of the name dates back to the 13th century, appearing in the Pipe Rolls of Gloucestershire in 1275 as "Braystun."
While the name Brayston does not appear to have any direct references in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it was not uncommon for names during this period to be inspired by personal characteristics or geographical locations.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Brayston was Sir Brayston de Courcy, a Norman knight who fought alongside William the Conqueror in the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Another notable bearer of the name was Brayston Fitzherbert, a 14th-century English lawyer and author of the influential legal treatise "La Graunde Abridgement."
In the 16th century, Brayston Whittingham (1508-1589) was an English clergyman and translator of the Geneva Bible. During the English Civil War in the 17th century, Colonel Brayston Gorges (1620-1675) was a prominent Royalist military commander who fought for King Charles I.
A more recent historical figure with the name was Brayston Ives (1773-1861), an American politician who served as the 6th Mayor of New Haven, Connecticut, from 1835 to 1838.
While the name Brayston may have fallen out of widespread use in more recent times, it remains a distinctive and historically significant name with roots in the medieval period and connections to notable individuals throughout English and American history.
People
Brayston + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Brayston 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
Brayston: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Brayston?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Brayston 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 57,125,723 US residents.
Is Brayston a common name?
We classify Brayston as "Very Rare". It ranks above 22.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Brayston most popular?
The single biggest year for Brayston was 2014, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Brayston is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Brayston in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Brayston a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Brayston 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 Brayston still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Brayston 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 Brayston 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many Americans are named Brayston?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.