Breton
A given name indicating a person from Brittany, France.
Name Census estimates that about 429 living Americans carry the first name Breton. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Breton today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Breton births was 1988 (19 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Breton. 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
429
~ 1 in 798,961 Americans
Peak year
1988
19 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
2022 SSA rank
#9,092
Tracked since 1959
Popularity
Breton: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Breton from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 118 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Breton 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 Breton 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 Breton
The name Breton has its origins in the Brittonic Celtic language spoken by the ancient Britons who inhabited parts of present-day Great Britain and northwestern France. It is derived from the Old Breton word "bret," which means "Briton" or a member of the Breton people.
The Bretons were a Celtic people who migrated from Great Britain to the Armorican peninsula in northwestern France during the 4th and 5th centuries AD. They established their own distinct culture and language, which later became known as the Breton language and the Breton people.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Breton is found in the 9th-century Cartulaire de Redon, a collection of charters and documents from the Abbey of Redon in Brittany. The name appears in various forms, such as "Brito" and "Britonant," referring to individuals of Breton origin or descent.
In the Middle Ages, the name Breton gained prominence among the nobility and ruling class of Brittany. Several dukes and counts of Brittany bore the name, including Breton (1115-1166), who ruled as Count of Penthièvre and Breton (1219-1237), who was Earl of Richmond and Lord of Brittany.
Other notable historical figures with the name Breton include:
1. Breton de la Plante (fl. 1300s), a French monk and chronicler who wrote about the history of Brittany.
2. Breton de Loix (1505-1582), a French jurist and author of legal treatises.
3. Breton de Villiers (1605-1672), a French military officer and diplomat who served during the reign of Louis XIV.
4. Breton de Nion (1661-1732), a French naval officer and explorer who conducted expeditions in the West Indies and the Gulf of Mexico.
5. Breton de Baye (1805-1886), a French politician and writer who served as a member of the National Assembly during the French Third Republic.
While the name Breton has its roots in the Celtic culture and language of ancient Brittany, it has also been used in various forms and spellings across different cultures and regions over the centuries.
People
Breton + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Breton 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
Breton: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Breton?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 429 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Breton 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 798,961 US residents.
Is Breton a common name?
We classify Breton as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 451 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Breton most popular?
The single biggest year for Breton was 1988, when 19 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Breton is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Breton a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Breton 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.