Brehanna
Small slender and graceful feminine name of English origin.
Name Census estimates that about 172 living Americans carry the first name Brehanna. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Brehanna today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Brehanna births was 1995 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Brehanna. 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
172
~ 1 in 1,992,758 Americans
Peak year
1995
15 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2010 SSA rank
#17,468
Tracked since 1989
Census
Brehanna in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 165 people with the first name Brehanna, which placed it at #43,061 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
#43,061
National first-name rank
People counted
165
165 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
43.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Brehanna
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brehanna is White at 43.0%. The next largest groups are Black (27.3%) and Hispanic (17.6%). 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 Brehanna 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 Brehanna at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White43.0% · 71
- Black or African American27.3% · 45
- Hispanic or Latino17.6% · 29
- Two or more races10.3% · 17
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.8% · 3
Popularity
Brehanna: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Brehanna from the 1980s through to the 2010s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 92 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
Brehanna 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 Brehanna 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 Brehanna
The name Brehanna is believed to have originated in Ireland, although its exact roots are unclear. Some sources suggest it may be a variant of the Irish name Briana, which is derived from the Gaelic word "bruigh" meaning "hill" or "hostage."
One theory is that Brehanna is a combination of the Irish prefix "bre," meaning "high" or "noble," and the name Hannah, which has Hebrew origins and means "grace." This would give Brehanna a meaning along the lines of "noble grace" or "high grace."
In ancient Irish mythology, there are references to a figure named Brehanna, who was said to be a fairy queen or goddess associated with fertility and nature. However, there is little concrete historical evidence to support the existence of this mythical figure.
The earliest recorded use of the name Brehanna dates back to the 16th century, when it appeared in Irish genealogical records. One notable bearer of the name was Brehanna O'Donnell, who lived in the late 16th century and was a member of the powerful O'Donnell clan in County Donegal, Ireland.
Another historical figure with the name Brehanna was Brehanna O'Brien, who lived in the 17th century and was a member of the influential O'Brien family in County Clare, Ireland. She was known for her involvement in local politics and her patronage of the arts.
In the 18th century, a woman named Brehanna Fitzgerald was recorded as having lived in County Limerick, Ireland. She was a landowner and philanthropist who supported several charitable causes in her community.
Moving into the 19th century, Brehanna O'Connor was a notable figure in Irish literature. Born in 1825, she was a poet and author who wrote extensively about Irish culture and folklore.
Finally, in the 20th century, Brehanna MacNeill was a prominent Irish politician and activist. Born in 1908, she was a member of the Irish Republican Army and played a significant role in the Irish independence movement.
While the name Brehanna remains relatively uncommon, it has a rich history and cultural significance in Ireland, with its roots stretching back to ancient mythology and carrying connotations of nobility, grace, and a connection to the natural world.
People
Brehanna + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Brehanna 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
Brehanna: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Brehanna?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 172 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Brehanna 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 1,992,758 US residents.
Is Brehanna a common name?
We classify Brehanna as "Very Rare". It ranks above 72.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 176 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Brehanna most popular?
The single biggest year for Brehanna was 1995, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Brehanna is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Brehanna in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 165 people with the name Brehanna, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #43,061 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 Brehanna 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 Brehanna?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Brehanna leans strongly female. 161 people counted with this name were female (97.0%), compared with 5 male bearers (3.0%). 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 Brehanna?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brehanna is White at 43.0%. The next largest groups are Black (27.3%) and Hispanic (17.6%). 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 Brehanna most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Brehanna in the 2020 Census, accounting for 43.0% (71 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 Brehanna in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Brehanna a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Brehanna 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 Brehanna still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Brehanna 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 Brehanna 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 Brehanna as a first name?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Brehanna at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.