Brode
A masculine name of Scottish origin derived from the Gaelic "brod" meaning badger or brindled.
Name Census estimates that about 116 living Americans carry the first name Brode. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Brode today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Brode births was 2006 (30 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Brode. 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
116
~ 1 in 2,954,779 Americans
Peak year
2006
30 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2013 SSA rank
#12,420
Tracked since 2002
Census
Brode in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 171 people with the first name Brode, which placed it at #42,203 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
#42,203
National first-name rank
People counted
171
171 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
86.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Brode
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brode is White at 86.0%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.1%) and Hispanic (3.5%). 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 Brode 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 Brode at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White86.0% · 147
- Two or more races4.1% · 7
- Hispanic or Latino3.5% · 6
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.5% · 6
- Black or African American2.9% · 5
Popularity
Brode: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Brode from the 2000s through to the 2010s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 89 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Brode remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Brode 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 Brode 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 Brode
The name Brode originated in Old English and Old German languages, derived from the root word "brod," meaning "broad" or "wide." It was initially a descriptive name given to someone with a broad or sturdy build.
In the early medieval period, the name Brode was found primarily in regions of present-day England and Germany, where it was used as a masculine given name. It was sometimes spelled as "Brod" or "Brode," with variations in spelling and pronunciation across different regions.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Brode can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of landowners in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. This historical record mentions a landowner named Brode, indicating the name's usage during the Norman conquest of England.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Brode. One of the earliest was Brode of Wissant (c. 1150 - c. 1210), a Flemish knight and military leader who fought in the Third Crusade under Richard the Lionheart. Another was Brode von Münsingen (c. 1300 - c. 1370), a Swiss knight and landowner known for his military exploits during the Burgundian Wars.
In the 15th century, Brode Broderson (c. 1420 - c. 1490) was a Danish sea captain and explorer who is credited with discovering parts of Greenland and establishing trade routes between Denmark and North America. Around the same time, Brode von Harburg (c. 1440 - c. 1510) was a German nobleman and diplomat who served as an envoy to several European courts.
A more recent figure was Brode Hendricks (1876 - 1944), a Dutch-American architect and designer known for his contributions to the Art Deco movement in the early 20th century. His notable works include the Bullocks Wilshire building in Los Angeles and the Warner Grand Theatre in San Pedro, California.
While the name Brode has fallen out of widespread use in modern times, it remains a part of historical records and has been carried on by individuals throughout various periods and cultures, reflecting its long-standing roots in Old English and Old German languages.
People
Brode + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Brode 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
Brode: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Brode?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 116 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Brode 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 2,954,779 US residents.
Is Brode a common name?
We classify Brode as "Very Rare". It ranks above 66.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 117 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Brode most popular?
The single biggest year for Brode was 2006, when 30 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Brode is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Brode in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 171 people with the name Brode, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #42,203 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 Brode 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 Brode?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Brode appears almost entirely male. Of the 169 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 Brode?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brode is White at 86.0%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.1%) and Hispanic (3.5%). 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 Brode most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Brode in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.0% (147 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 Brode in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Brode a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Brode 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 Brode still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Brode 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 Brode 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 are named Brode?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.