Brunette
A female descriptive given name referring to brown or dark hair.
Name Census estimates that about 23 living Americans carry the first name Brunette. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Brunette today is around 75 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Brunette births was 1917 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Brunette. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Brunette is about 75 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Brunettes were born before 1961.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Brunette. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
23
~ 1 in 14,902,363 Americans
Peak year
1917
12 babies that year
Average age
75
years old
1955 SSA rank
#4,791
Tracked since 1910
Census
Brunette in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 264 people with the first name Brunette, which placed it at #32,084 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
#32,084
National first-name rank
People counted
264
264 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
57.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Brunette
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brunette is Black at 57.6%. The next largest groups are White (31.1%) and Hispanic (7.2%). 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 Brunette 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 Brunette at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American57.6% · 152
- White31.1% · 82
- Hispanic or Latino7.2% · 19
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.9% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 3
- Two or more races1.1% · 3
Popularity
Brunette: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Brunette from the 1910s through to the 1950s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 54 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Brunette remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Brunette 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 Brunette 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 Brunette
The name Brunette is a French feminine given name derived from the Old French word "brunette", meaning "little brown one". It originates from the French adjective "brun", which means "brown" and is ultimately derived from the Proto-Germanic word "brunaz", meaning "brown, dark brown".
The name Brunette is believed to have first emerged in France during the Middle Ages, around the 12th or 13th century. It was initially used as a nickname or descriptive term for women with dark brown or brunette hair color. Over time, it transitioned into use as a given name in its own right.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Brunette can be found in the French epic poem "La Chanson de Roland" (The Song of Roland), written around 1100 AD. The poem mentions a character named Brunette, although it is not clear if this was a given name or a descriptive nickname.
In the 14th century, the name Brunette appeared in the writings of the Italian poet Francesco Petrarca, who used it to refer to a woman with dark brown hair in his poetry. This helped to popularize the name in Italy and other parts of Europe.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Brunette. One of the earliest was Brunette Latina (born c. 1330), an Italian painter and illuminator of manuscripts during the Renaissance.
Another famous Brunette was Brunette Rider (1561-1628), an English herbalist and author of the influential work "The Compleat Body of Husbandry".
In the 18th century, Brunette Bontems (1705-1768) was a French dancer and actress who performed at the Comédie-Française in Paris.
The 19th century saw the birth of Brunette Rahmée (1843-1923), a French opera singer and actress who performed in Paris and throughout Europe.
More recently, Brunette Zarlini (1908-1994) was an Italian actress and singer who appeared in numerous films and stage productions in the mid-20th century.
People
Brunette + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Brunette 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
Brunette: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Brunette?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 23 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Brunette 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 14,902,363 US residents.
Is Brunette a common name?
We classify Brunette as "Very Rare". It ranks above 42.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 138 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Brunette most popular?
The single biggest year for Brunette was 1917, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Brunette is about 75 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Brunette in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 264 people with the name Brunette, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #32,084 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 Brunette 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 Brunette?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Brunette leans strongly female. 248 people counted with this name were female (94.3%), compared with 15 male bearers (5.7%). 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 Brunette?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brunette is Black at 57.6%. The next largest groups are White (31.1%) and Hispanic (7.2%). 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 Brunette most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Brunette in the 2020 Census, accounting for 57.6% (152 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 Brunette in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Brunette a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Brunette 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 Brunette still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Brunette 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 Brunette 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 Brunette?
Find out how many people share the name Brunette on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.