Breane
Of Old German origin meaning "field of tall grass".
Name Census estimates that about 128 living Americans carry the first name Breane. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Breane today is around 38 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Breane births was 1979 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Breane. 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
128
~ 1 in 2,677,768 Americans
Peak year
1979
11 babies that year
Average age
38
years old
2000 SSA rank
#15,398
Tracked since 1977
Census
Breane in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 180 people with the first name Breane, which placed it at #41,022 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
#41,022
National first-name rank
People counted
180
180 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
61.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Breane
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Breane is White at 61.1%. The next largest groups are Black (17.2%) and Hispanic (13.3%). 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 Breane 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 Breane at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White61.1% · 110
- Black or African American17.2% · 31
- Hispanic or Latino13.3% · 24
- Two or more races6.1% · 11
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.2% · 4
Popularity
Breane: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Breane from the 1970s through to the 2000s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 63 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Breane 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 Breane 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 Breane
The name Breane is a variant of the English name Brianne, which originated from the Celtic Breton name Brian, deriving from the Old Celtic word "brig" meaning "high" or "noble." It first appeared in the 5th century AD in Brittany, a region in northwestern France, and later spread to other parts of Europe.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Breane can be found in the 12th-century manuscript "The Chronicles of Brittany," which mentions a woman named Breane de Rennes, who lived in the city of Rennes during that time. The name is believed to have religious connotations, as Saint Brian was a revered figure in Celtic Christianity.
In the 16th century, the name Breane gained popularity among the French nobility. One notable figure was Breane de Montmorency (1495-1567), a French noblewoman and courtier during the reign of King Francis I. She was known for her influential role in the French court and her patronage of the arts.
During the Renaissance period, the name Breane appeared in several literary works, including the poetry of Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585), a renowned French Renaissance poet who celebrated the beauty of women with names like Breane.
Another historical figure bearing the name Breane was Breane de Valois (1552-1598), a French princess and daughter of King Henry II of France. She was known for her involvement in the French Wars of Religion and her support for the Catholic cause.
In the 19th century, the name Breane resurfaced in the United States, where it was adopted by various families of French and Celtic descent. One notable American bearer of the name was Breane Cartwright (1834-1903), a pioneer and settler in the American West, who helped establish the town of Cartwright, Oklahoma.
Throughout history, the name Breane has maintained its association with nobility, strength, and Celtic heritage, despite its relatively rare usage compared to other variations like Brianne or Briana.
People
Breane + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Breane 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
Breane: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Breane?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 128 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Breane 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 2,677,768 US residents.
Is Breane a common name?
We classify Breane as "Very Rare". It ranks above 68.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 135 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Breane most popular?
The single biggest year for Breane was 1979, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Breane is about 38 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Breane in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 180 people with the name Breane, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #41,022 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 Breane 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 Breane?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Breane leans strongly female. 178 people counted with this name were female (98.3%), compared with 3 male bearers (1.7%). 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 Breane?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Breane is White at 61.1%. The next largest groups are Black (17.2%) and Hispanic (13.3%). 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 Breane most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Breane in the 2020 Census, accounting for 61.1% (110 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 Breane in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Breane a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Breane in the SSA data are female. 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 Breane still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Breane 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 Breane 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 Breane?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Breane at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.