Brenham
A masculine name of German origin meaning "from the high meadow".
Name Census estimates that about 67 living Americans carry the first name Brenham. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Brenham today is around 9 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Brenham births was 2008 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Brenham. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Brenham. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
67
~ 1 in 5,115,736 Americans
Peak year
2008
10 babies that year
Average age
9
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,022
Tracked since 2008
Popularity
Brenham: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Brenham 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 33 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Brenham remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Brenham 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 Brenham during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Brenhams live
Origin
Meaning and history of Brenham
The name Brenham is believed to have its origins in Old English, possibly derived from the words "bren" meaning "burnt" and "ham" meaning "homestead" or "village." This suggests that the name may have originally referred to a settlement that had been affected by fire, or perhaps a location where charcoal burning or other fire-related activities took place.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Brenham can be traced back to the Anglo-Saxon period in England, which spanned from the 5th to the 11th century. It is possible that the name was initially used as a descriptive term for a specific place, and later adopted as a personal name.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Brenham was a landowner and nobleman who lived in the late 10th century. Records from that time mention a "Brenham of Berkshire," indicating that the name was in use among the Anglo-Saxon aristocracy.
In the 12th century, a monk named Brenham is recorded as having lived in the monastery of St. Albans Abbey in Hertfordshire, England. This suggests that the name had spread beyond its initial geographic origins and was being used by individuals from various walks of life.
During the Middle Ages, the name Brenham appeared in several historical documents, including records of land transactions and legal proceedings. One notable example is Brenham de Montfort, a minor nobleman who fought alongside Simon de Montfort during the Second Barons' War in the 13th century.
In the 16th century, a prominent figure named Brenham Winslow was a member of the English gentry and served as a Member of Parliament for Worcestershire in the 1550s. This demonstrates the continued use of the name among the English upper classes.
Another individual of note was Brenham Dickinson, an English explorer and navigator who accompanied Sir Francis Drake on his famous circumnavigation voyage in the late 16th century. Dickinson's accounts of the expedition provide valuable insights into the era of maritime exploration.
As the name Brenham spread throughout the English-speaking world, it was adopted by individuals from various backgrounds and regions. In the 19th century, Brenham Caldwell was a respected physician and educator in the United States, known for his contributions to the field of medical education.
People
Brenham + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Brenham 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
Brenham: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Brenham?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 67 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Brenham 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 5,115,736 US residents.
Is Brenham a common name?
We classify Brenham as "Very Rare". It ranks above 58.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 68 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Brenham most popular?
The single biggest year for Brenham was 2008, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Brenham is about 9 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Brenham in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Brenham a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Brenham 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 Brenham still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Brenham 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 Brenham 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many Americans are named Brenham?
Want to know how many Americans are named Brenham? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.