Brentin
An anglicized form of the Irish surname "Brennan", meaning descendent of a freckled person.
Name Census estimates that about 178 living Americans carry the first name Brentin. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Brentin today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Brentin births was 2011 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Brentin. 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
178
~ 1 in 1,925,586 Americans
Peak year
2011
12 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2020 SSA rank
#9,713
Tracked since 1985
Census
Brentin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 180 people with the first name Brentin, 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
58.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Brentin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brentin is White at 58.3%. The next largest groups are Black (26.7%) and Two or More Races (11.7%). 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 Brentin 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 Brentin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White58.3% · 105
- Black or African American26.7% · 48
- Two or more races11.7% · 21
- Hispanic or Latino2.2% · 4
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 2
Popularity
Brentin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Brentin from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 64 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Brentin 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 Brentin 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 Brentin
The name Brentin has its origins in the ancient Celtic language, with roots that can be traced back to the 5th century BCE. It is believed to be derived from the Proto-Celtic word "brentos," which means "prince" or "highborn." This name was particularly popular among the Celtic tribes that inhabited the regions now known as Ireland, Scotland, and parts of England.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Brentin can be found in the ancient Irish epic, the Táin Bó Cúailnge, which dates back to the 8th century CE. In this epic, Brentin is mentioned as a warrior and chieftain of the Ulaid tribe, renowned for his bravery and leadership skills.
During the Middle Ages, the name Brentin was often associated with nobility and royalty. One notable figure bearing this name was Brentin ap Rhys, a Welsh prince who lived in the 12th century and played a significant role in the Welsh resistance against Norman invaders.
In the 16th century, Brentin Macleod was a Scottish clan chief who led his people in the Western Isles of Scotland. He is remembered for his fierce loyalty to the Scottish crown and his involvement in the Scottish Wars of Independence.
Another historical figure of note was Brentin O'Sullivan, an Irish chieftain from the 17th century who fought against the English colonization of Ireland. His exploits and resistance to English rule are well-documented in Irish folklore and historical accounts.
In the 19th century, Brentin Whitaker was a renowned British explorer and adventurer who undertook several expeditions to Africa and the Middle East. His travels and discoveries were widely documented in his memoirs and contributed significantly to the field of geography and exploration.
While the name Brentin has fallen out of widespread use in modern times, its rich history and Celtic origins continue to captivate those interested in onomastics and the study of names. Its association with nobility, bravery, and leadership has left an indelible mark on the cultural heritage of the Celtic regions where it was once prevalent.
People
Brentin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Brentin 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
Brentin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Brentin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 178 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Brentin 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 1,925,586 US residents.
Is Brentin a common name?
We classify Brentin as "Very Rare". It ranks above 72.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 181 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Brentin most popular?
The single biggest year for Brentin was 2011, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Brentin is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Brentin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 180 people with the name Brentin, 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 Brentin 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 Brentin?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Brentin appears almost entirely male. Of the 183 people counted with this name, 100.0% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Brentin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brentin is White at 58.3%. The next largest groups are Black (26.7%) and Two or More Races (11.7%). 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 Brentin most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Brentin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 58.3% (105 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 Brentin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Brentin a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Brentin 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 Brentin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Brentin 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 Brentin 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 share the name Brentin?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.