Bronwen
A feminine Welsh name meaning "fair" or "blessed breast".
Name Census estimates that about 748 living Americans carry the first name Bronwen. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Bronwen today is around 43 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bronwen births was 1980 (25 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bronwen. 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
748
~ 1 in 458,228 Americans
Peak year
1980
25 babies that year
Average age
43
years old
2022 SSA rank
#10,539
Tracked since 1941
Popularity
Bronwen: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bronwen from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 189 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Bronwen 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 Bronwen during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Bronwens live
Origin
Meaning and history of Bronwen
Bronwen is a Welsh feminine given name derived from the Welsh words "bron" meaning "breast" or "heart," and "gwen" meaning "white" or "fair." The name originated in medieval Wales and was traditionally given to girls born with fair complexions.
The name has its roots in the ancient Celtic culture of Britain and is believed to have been used as early as the 6th century AD. It gained popularity during the Middle Ages when Welsh literature and poetry flourished, and many characters in traditional Welsh folktales and legends bore this name.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Bronwen can be found in the Mabinogion, a collection of medieval Welsh prose stories from the 12th and 13th centuries. In the tale of "Culhwch and Olwen," Bronwen is the daughter of the giant Ysbaddaden and is described as a beautiful and virtuous maiden.
Throughout history, several notable women have borne the name Bronwen. Bronwen Astor (1924-2022) was a British socialite and writer, known for her memoirs and novels depicting the lives of the aristocracy. Bronwen Gillanders (1908-1973) was a Welsh actress and playwright who appeared in several films and television shows in the mid-20th century.
Another famous Bronwen was Bronwen Vaughan-Evans (1912-1998), a Welsh soprano and music educator who performed with the Welsh National Opera and taught at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. Bronwen Martin (1921-1989) was a British artist and printmaker, recognized for her vibrant abstract compositions and woodcut prints.
Bronwen Booth (1922-1995) was a British stage actress who appeared in numerous productions in London's West End and on Broadway. She was particularly renowned for her performances in plays by George Bernard Shaw and Oscar Wilde.
While the name Bronwen has maintained a presence in Welsh culture and literature, it has also gained recognition in other parts of the world, particularly in countries with strong Celtic heritage or influences.
People
Bronwen + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bronwen 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
Bronwen: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bronwen?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 748 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bronwen 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 458,228 US residents.
Is Bronwen a common name?
We classify Bronwen as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 862 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bronwen most popular?
The single biggest year for Bronwen was 1980, when 25 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bronwen is about 43 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Bronwen a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Bronwen 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.