Bronte
Of English origin, derived from the town of Brontë in Yorkshire.
Name Census estimates that about 908 living Americans carry the first name Bronte. It is a predominantly female name (98.1% of registrations). The average person named Bronte today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bronte births was 1992 (131 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bronte. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Bronte with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
908
~ 1 in 377,483 Americans
Peak year
1992
131 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2000 SSA rank
#7,634
Tracked since 1969
Census
Bronte in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 974 people with the first name Bronte, which placed it at #12,687 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
#12,687
National first-name rank
People counted
974
974 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
63.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bronte
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bronte is White at 63.6%. The next largest groups are Black (15.1%) and Hispanic (10.2%). 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 Bronte 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 Bronte at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White63.6% · 619
- Black or African American15.1% · 147
- Hispanic or Latino10.2% · 99
- Two or more races7.5% · 73
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.5% · 24
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 12
Gender
Gender distribution for Bronte
Bronte leans heavily female at 98.1% of total registrations, but 18 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Bronte as a male name
- Ranked #10,578 in 2000
- 5 male births in 2000
- Peak: 1994 (8 births)
Bronte as a female name
- Ranked #7,634 in 2024
- 14 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1992 (131 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bronte leans strongly female. 898 people counted with this name were female (91.9%), compared with 79 male bearers (8.1%).
Popularity
Bronte: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bronte from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 561 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
Bronte 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 Bronte during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Brontes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 9 states and territories. California, Texas, Washington recorded the most babies named Bronte, while Utah, Ohio, Hawaii recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 21 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Bronte
The name Bronte is derived from the ancient Greek word "brontē," which means "thunder." It is believed to have originated as a surname in the 19th century, likely in England or Italy. The name's connection to thunder suggests a powerful and resonant quality.
The earliest recorded use of the name Bronte can be traced back to the famous Brontë family of writers in the 19th century. The three Brontë sisters, Charlotte (1816-1855), Emily (1818-1848), and Anne (1820-1849), were renowned authors who made significant contributions to English literature. Their works, such as "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte, "Wuthering Heights" by Emily, and "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" by Anne, are considered literary classics.
Another notable figure with the name Bronte was Bronte Woodard (1903-1975), an American actress and dancer who appeared in several films during the 1920s and 1930s. She is best known for her roles in the movies "The Unholy Three" (1925) and "The Sin Ship" (1931).
In the field of art, Bronte Arbuthnot (1895-1978) was a British artist and sculptor known for her portraiture and figurative works. She was a member of the Royal Academy of Arts and received several commissions for public sculptures throughout her career.
Bronte Howard (1865-1956) was an Australian politician and activist who fought for women's rights and suffrage. She played a significant role in the women's movement in Australia during the early 20th century and served as the president of the National Council of Women of Victoria.
Finally, Bronte Parsonage is a notable literary landmark in Haworth, England, where the Brontë family lived and wrote their famous works. It has been preserved as a museum and attracts visitors from around the world who are interested in the lives and works of the Brontë sisters.
People
Bronte + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bronte 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
Bronte: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bronte?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 908 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bronte 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 377,483 US residents.
Is Bronte a common name?
We classify Bronte as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 932 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bronte most popular?
The single biggest year for Bronte was 1992, when 131 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bronte is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bronte in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 974 people with the name Bronte, or 0.32 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,687 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 Bronte 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 Bronte?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bronte leans strongly female. 898 people counted with this name were female (91.9%), compared with 79 male bearers (8.1%). 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 Bronte?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bronte is White at 63.6%. The next largest groups are Black (15.1%) and Hispanic (10.2%). 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 Bronte most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Bronte in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.6% (619 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 Bronte in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bronte a female name?
Yes, 98.1% of people registered as Bronte 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.
Is Bronte still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bronte 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 Bronte 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 have the name Bronte?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.