Find out how popular the last name Bragg is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Bragg.

Bragg, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Bragg surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Bragg in America

Bragg is the 1643rd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Bragg surname appeared 21,934 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 7 people would have the surname Bragg.

We can also compare 2010 data for Bragg to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Bragg

The surname Bragg has its origins in England and is believed to have derived from the Old English word 'bræc', which means a brack or bracken fern. This suggests that the name may have been initially given as a nickname to someone who lived near an area abundant with bracken.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Bragg can be found in the Pipe Rolls of Gloucestershire in 1202, where a Richard Bragge is mentioned. The Pipe Rolls were a series of ancient financial records maintained by the English Exchequer.

In the 13th century, the surname appeared in various forms, such as Bragge, Bragges, and Brages, as spellings were not standardized at that time. The Hundredorum Rolls of 1273, a census-like record of landowners and householders, lists several individuals with the name Bragg living in counties like Oxfordshire and Berkshire.

The name Bragg may also have derived from a place name, as there are several locations in England with names similar to Bragg, such as Bragbury in Shropshire and Braggington in Derbyshire. These place names could have influenced the surname's development.

One notable figure with the surname Bragg was Sir William Bragg (1862-1942), a renowned British physicist who shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1915 with his son, William Lawrence Bragg (1890-1971), for their pioneering work in X-ray crystallography.

Another prominent individual was Edward S. Bragg (1827-1912), a British-American writer and philosopher who authored works on religion and spirituality, including "The Spirit Worker" and "The Occult Universe."

In the United States, Braxton Bragg (1817-1876) was a notable figure during the American Civil War, serving as a general in the Confederate Army and commanding forces in several significant battles.

John Bragg (1768-1828), an American merchant and politician, was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania in the early 19th century.

Lastly, Loni Bragg (born 1968) is an American former professional basketball player who played in the WNBA and was a member of the United States women's basketball team that won a gold medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Bragg

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Bragg.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Bragg was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Bragg has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Bragg was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Bragg, please contact us.

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