Breken
A non-traditional masculine name, possibly derived from the English verb "to break".
Name Census estimates that about 170 living Americans carry the first name Breken. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Breken today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Breken births was 2011 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Breken. 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
170
~ 1 in 2,016,202 Americans
Peak year
2011
20 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2020 SSA rank
#12,291
Tracked since 2002
Popularity
Breken: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Breken from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 105 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Breken 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 Breken during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Brekens live
Origin
Meaning and history of Breken
The name Breken has its origins in the Old Frisian language, which was spoken in the coastal regions of modern-day Netherlands and Germany during the early medieval period, around the 8th to 13th centuries. The name is derived from the Old Frisian word "breka," which means "to break" or "to shatter." This suggests that the name may have initially been used to describe someone with a strong or forceful personality.
While there are no known direct references to the name Breken in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it is worth noting that the Old Frisian language was closely related to Old English and Old Saxon, and shared linguistic roots with other Germanic languages of the time. As such, the name may have been influenced by or shared similarities with names from neighboring cultures.
The earliest recorded example of the name Breken can be traced back to the 11th century, when it was mentioned in a document from the Frisian territories. One of the earliest known individuals to bear the name was Breken van Westerlant, a Frisian nobleman who lived in the late 12th century.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have carried the name Breken. One of the most famous was Breken Heynsz (1490-1567), a Dutch painter and engraver who was part of the Renaissance art movement in the Netherlands. Another was Breken Meinertsen (1545-1612), a Danish astronomer and mathematician who made significant contributions to the study of celestial mechanics.
In the 15th century, there was a Scottish nobleman named Breken Douglas (1412-1488), who played a prominent role in the Wars of the Roses between the Houses of York and Lancaster. A century later, Breken Williamson (1594-1672) was an English poet and clergyman whose works were widely read during the Puritan revolution.
Finally, one of the more recent historical figures with the name Breken was Breken Jansen (1849-1923), a Dutch explorer and naturalist who led several expeditions to the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) and contributed significantly to the study of the region's flora and fauna.
People
Breken + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Breken 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
Breken: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Breken?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 170 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Breken 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 2,016,202 US residents.
Is Breken a common name?
We classify Breken as "Very Rare". It ranks above 72% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 172 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Breken most popular?
The single biggest year for Breken was 2011, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Breken is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Breken a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Breken 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.
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.