Breandan
Old Celtic name derived from a word meaning "prince" or "noble."
Name Census estimates that about 161 living Americans carry the first name Breandan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Breandan today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Breandan births was 2006 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Breandan. 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 Breandan with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
161
~ 1 in 2,128,909 Americans
Peak year
2006
13 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2016 SSA rank
#8,238
Tracked since 1978
Census
Breandan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 223 people with the first name Breandan, which placed it at #35,856 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
#35,856
National first-name rank
People counted
223
223 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
91.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Breandan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Breandan is White at 91.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.5%) and Two or More Races (4.0%). 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 Breandan 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 Breandan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White91.5% · 204
- Hispanic or Latino4.5% · 10
- Two or more races4.0% · 9
Popularity
Breandan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Breandan from the 1970s through to the 2010s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 70 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Breandan remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Breandan 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 Breandan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Breandan
The name Breandan is derived from the Old Irish name Brénainn, which is thought to have originated from the Gaelic word "bren" meaning "rain" or "drop." This suggests that the name may have been associated with weather or natural elements in its early usage. The name is also sometimes spelled as Brendan or Brenainn.
It is believed that the name Breandan has been in use since the 5th century AD, when it was borne by the Irish Christian missionary and saint, St. Brendan the Navigator. St. Brendan is renowned for his legendary journey across the Atlantic Ocean, which is recounted in the medieval text "Navigatio Sancti Brendani Abbatis" (The Voyage of Saint Brendan the Abbot).
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Breandan can be found in the Irish annals, where it is mentioned in reference to Breandan Biror, an Irish monk who died in 573 AD. Another notable figure was Breandan of Clonfert, an Irish abbot and monastic founder who lived in the 6th century.
Throughout history, several other notable individuals have borne the name Breandan. These include Breandan Beolan, an Irish poet and historian who lived in the 7th century, and Breandan Ua Conchobair, an Irish king of Connacht who reigned in the 12th century.
In more recent times, the name Breandan has been carried by Breandan Irvine, an Irish actor born in 1944, and Breandan Ó Muirí, an Irish language scholar and writer who lived from 1886 to 1962.
Breandan also gained prominence through the character of Brendan Bracken, a British politician and close adviser to Winston Churchill, who was born in 1901 and died in 1958.
While the name Breandan has its roots in Irish and Gaelic culture, it has since been adopted and used in various parts of the world, particularly in English-speaking countries with Irish heritage or connections.
People
Breandan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Breandan 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
Breandan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Breandan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 161 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Breandan 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 2,128,909 US residents.
Is Breandan a common name?
We classify Breandan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 71.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 164 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Breandan most popular?
The single biggest year for Breandan was 2006, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Breandan is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Breandan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 223 people with the name Breandan, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #35,856 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 Breandan 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 Breandan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Breandan leans strongly male. 221 people counted with this name were male (98.2%), compared with 4 female bearers (1.8%). 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 Breandan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Breandan is White at 91.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.5%) and Two or More Races (4.0%). 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 Breandan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Breandan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 91.5% (204 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 Breandan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Breandan a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Breandan 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 Breandan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Breandan 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 Breandan 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 have Breandan as a first name?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Breandan at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.