Breanne
A feminine given name of Celtic origin meaning "powerful" or "strong".
Name Census estimates that about 9,930 living Americans carry the first name Breanne. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Breanne today is around 33 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Breanne births was 1991 (517 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Breanne. 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 Breanne with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
9.9K
~ 1 in 34,517 Americans
Peak year
1991
517 babies that year
Average age
33
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,960
Tracked since 1973
Census
Breanne in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 9,284 people with the first name Breanne, which placed it at #2,589 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
#2,589
National first-name rank
People counted
9.3K
9,284 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
80.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Breanne
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Breanne is White at 80.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.4%) and Black (5.1%). 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 Breanne 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 Breanne at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White80.5% · 7,469
- Hispanic or Latino7.4% · 684
- Black or African American5.1% · 473
- Two or more races4.9% · 459
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.4% · 131
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 68
Popularity
Breanne: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Breanne from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 4,088 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
Breanne 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 Breanne during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Breannes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 42 states and territories. California, Michigan, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Breanne, while Alaska, Kentucky, South Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 195 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Breanne
The name Breanne is a variant of the Irish name Bríghid or Brighid, which derives from the Old Irish word "bri" meaning "exalted one" or "high, noble". It is also related to the Celtic goddess Brigid, a goddess of healing, poetry, and smithcraft. The name is believed to have originated in Ireland during the early medieval period, around the 5th to 6th centuries AD.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Breanne can be traced back to a 7th-century Irish saint, Saint Brigid of Kildare, who was born around 451 AD in Faughart, County Louth, Ireland. She is one of the patron saints of Ireland and is celebrated for her piety and her role in establishing several monasteries and churches.
In the 12th century, the name Breanne appeared in the medieval Irish text "Lebor Gabála Érenn" (The Book of the Taking of Ireland), which recounts the mythical origins of the Irish people. The name was also mentioned in various Irish annals and manuscripts from the medieval period.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Breanne or its variants. One such person was Brianna of the Hebrides, a 13th-century Scottish princess and the daughter of Aileen, Lord of Argyll. Another was Brianna Robertsone, a 16th-century Scottish woman who was accused of witchcraft during the North Berwick witch trials in 1590.
In the modern era, the name Breanne gained popularity in English-speaking countries, particularly in the United States and Canada, in the late 20th century. Some notable individuals with the name include Breanne Benson, an American actress and model born in 1981, and Breanne Nalder, a Canadian soccer player born in 1992.
Overall, the name Breanne has a rich history rooted in Irish and Celtic traditions, with connections to mythology, religion, and historical figures throughout the centuries.
People
Breanne + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Breanne 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
Breanne: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Breanne?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 9,930 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Breanne 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 34,517 US residents.
Is Breanne a common name?
We classify Breanne as "Rare". It ranks above 97.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 10,345 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Breanne most popular?
The single biggest year for Breanne was 1991, when 517 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Breanne is about 33 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Breanne in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 9,284 people with the name Breanne, or 3.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,589 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 Breanne 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 Breanne?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Breanne appears almost entirely female. Of the 9,278 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Breanne?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Breanne is White at 80.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.4%) and Black (5.1%). 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 Breanne most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Breanne in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.5% (7,469 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 Breanne in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Breanne a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Breanne 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 Breanne still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Breanne 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 Breanne 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 called Breanne?
Find out how many people have the name Breanne on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.