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

Brennen, 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 Brennen surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Brennen in America

Brennen is the 18757th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Brennen surname appeared 1,462 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 people would have the surname Brennen.

We can also compare 2010 data for Brennen 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 Brennen

The surname Brennen is of German origin, derived from the Old High German word "brennen" meaning "to burn." It is believed to have originated in the 12th century as a descriptive name for someone who worked as a charcoal burner or in a related profession.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Brennen can be found in the Codex Diplomaticus Saxoniae, a collection of medieval documents from the region of Saxony, where a person named Henricus Brennen is mentioned in a legal document dated 1287.

In the 14th century, the name appeared in various forms, such as Brenner, Brener, and Brenher, in records from different regions of Germany, including Bavaria and Swabia. During this period, the name was often associated with individuals who lived near a charcoal burning site or worked in related occupations.

The name Brennen has also been linked to several historical figures, including Johann Brennen (1524-1598), a German theologian and reformer who played a significant role in the Protestant Reformation. Another notable bearer of the name was Friedrich Brennen (1784-1863), a German architect and urban planner who designed several prominent buildings in Berlin.

In the 16th century, the name Brennen appeared in the records of the Hanseatic League, a powerful commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Northern Europe. This suggests that individuals with this surname may have been involved in trade and commerce during that time.

Other notable individuals with the surname Brennen include Wilhelm Brennen (1801-1877), a German sculptor and painter known for his mythological and historical works, and Karl Brennen (1838-1920), a German engineer and inventor who contributed significantly to the development of early aviation technology.

The name Brennen has also been associated with various place names across Germany, such as Brennenburg, a town in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and Brennerberg, a mountain in the Bavarian Alps. These place names may have influenced the spelling and pronunciation of the surname over time.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Brennen

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

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 Brennen 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 Brennen 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 Brennen was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

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

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