Brocha
A feminine name of Yiddish origin meaning "blessing" or "benediction".
Name Census estimates that about 815 living Americans carry the first name Brocha. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Brocha today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Brocha births was 2001 (33 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Brocha. 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
815
~ 1 in 420,557 Americans
Peak year
2001
33 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,642
Tracked since 1970
Popularity
Brocha: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Brocha from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 228 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Brocha remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Brocha 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 Brocha during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Brochas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Brocha
The name Brocha has its origins in the Hebrew language and Jewish culture, dating back to ancient times. It is believed to derive from the Hebrew word "berachah," which means "blessing" or "benediction." This connection suggests that the name may have been bestowed upon individuals as a means of expressing a wish for divine favor or protection.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Brocha can be found in the Talmud, a central text of Rabbinic Judaism. In the Talmud, there is a reference to a woman named Brocha bat Avraham, who lived during the 2nd century CE. Unfortunately, little else is known about her life or circumstances.
In the Middle Ages, the name Brocha appears to have been relatively uncommon, but it did gain some prominence in certain Jewish communities. One notable figure from this period was Brocha Pikholz, a 13th-century Jewish scholar and poet from Bohemia (now part of the Czech Republic). Her work, though largely forgotten today, was highly regarded in her time and provided insight into the intellectual and cultural life of European Jewry.
As Jewish communities spread throughout the world, the name Brocha traveled with them, taking on various spellings and pronunciations in different languages and cultures. In the 16th century, for example, there is record of a Brocha Spinoza, a distant relative of the famous Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677).
Another notable figure bearing the name Brocha was Brocha Zelda Schorr (1844-1916), a prominent Hasidic Jewish leader and author from Galicia (now part of Poland and Ukraine). She was renowned for her wisdom and spiritual guidance, and her writings on Jewish mysticism and ethics were widely read and influential.
In more recent times, the name Brocha has been carried on by individuals such as Brocha Yellin (1920-2018), an Israeli educator and women's rights activist who played a significant role in the establishment of the first religious girls' high school in Jerusalem.
While the name Brocha may not be as widely used today as it once was, its rich history and connection to the concept of blessings and divine favor have endured, making it a meaningful and evocative choice for parents seeking a name with deep cultural and spiritual resonance.
People
Brocha + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Brocha 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
Brocha: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Brocha?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 815 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Brocha 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 420,557 US residents.
Is Brocha a common name?
We classify Brocha as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 837 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Brocha most popular?
The single biggest year for Brocha was 2001, when 33 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Brocha is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Brocha a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Brocha 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.