Brette
A feminine French name of Old Norse origin meaning "bright, powerful".
Name Census estimates that about 576 living Americans carry the first name Brette. It is a predominantly female name (98.2% of registrations). The average person named Brette today is around 35 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Brette births was 1994 (28 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Brette. 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
576
~ 1 in 595,060 Americans
Peak year
1994
28 babies that year
Average age
35
years old
1990 SSA rank
#8,263
Tracked since 1962
Gender
Gender distribution for Brette
Brette leans heavily female at 98.2% of total registrations, but 11 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Brette as a male name
- Ranked #8,263 in 1990
- 5 male births in 1990
- Peak: 1970 (6 births)
Brette as a female name
- Ranked #13,730 in 2023
- 6 female births in 2023
- Peak: 1994 (28 births)
Popularity
Brette: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Brette from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 203 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
Brette 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 Brette during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Brettes live
Origin
Meaning and history of Brette
The name Brette is a French feminine form of the masculine name Bret, which has its origins in the Brittany region of France. The name is derived from the Breton word "briz," meaning "broken" or "fragmented." It is believed that the name initially referred to someone who lived near a place with rough terrain or a rugged coastline.
In the early Middle Ages, the name Brette was primarily used by families from the Brittany region, where it held cultural significance. As the name spread, variations such as Breta, Bretana, and Bretona emerged in different regions of France and neighboring countries.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Brette can be found in a 12th-century manuscript from the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés in Paris, which documented the life of a noblewoman named Brette de Montfort.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Brette. In the 13th century, Brette de Vaux was a prominent French poet and troubadour known for her contributions to courtly love literature. In the 16th century, Brette de Chambord (1499-1564) was a French noblewoman and confidante of King Francis I.
During the Renaissance period, the name Brette gained popularity among artists and intellectuals. Brette de Valois (1553-1598) was a French painter and miniaturist renowned for her portraits of the French royal family. Brette de Vitry (1570-1624) was a philosopher and theologian who wrote extensively on metaphysics and ethics.
In more recent times, Brette Haus (1924-2018) was an American fashion designer and entrepreneur who founded the eponymous luxury handbag company. Brette Harrington (1945-2021) was a British actress known for her roles in television series like "Upstairs, Downstairs" and "The Jewel in the Crown."
People
Brette + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Brette 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
Brette: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Brette?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 576 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Brette 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 595,060 US residents.
Is Brette a common name?
We classify Brette as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 606 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Brette most popular?
The single biggest year for Brette was 1994, when 28 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Brette is about 35 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Brette a female name?
Yes, 98.2% of people registered as Brette 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.
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.