Brack
A masculine name derived from the Gaelic term for a badger or den.
Name Census estimates that about 206 living Americans carry the first name Brack. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Brack today is around 60 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Brack births was 1922 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Brack. 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
206
~ 1 in 1,663,856 Americans
Peak year
1922
11 babies that year
Average age
60
years old
2004 SSA rank
#11,571
Tracked since 1910
Census
Brack in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 312 people with the first name Brack, which placed it at #28,685 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
#28,685
National first-name rank
People counted
312
312 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
80.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Brack
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brack is White at 80.4%. The next largest groups are Black (12.2%) and Hispanic (2.6%). 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 Brack 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 Brack at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White80.4% · 251
- Black or African American12.2% · 38
- Hispanic or Latino2.6% · 8
- Two or more races2.6% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 4
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 3
Popularity
Brack: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Brack from the 1910s through to the 2000s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 70 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Brack 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 Brack during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Bracks live
Origin
Meaning and history of Brack
The name Brack has its origins in the Germanic languages, dating back to the Middle Ages. It is believed to be derived from the Old German word "brak," which means "bracken" or "fern." This suggests that the name may have initially been used to describe someone who lived near or worked with ferns.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Brack can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The name appears as "Brac," referring to a landowner or tenant in the county of Norfolk.
In the 12th century, the name Brack was mentioned in the Icelandic Sagas, a collection of narratives depicting the lives and adventures of Icelandic settlers and their descendants. The character Brack Ormsson is described as a skilled navigator and explorer, highlighting the name's potential association with the natural world.
During the Middle Ages, the name Brack was also found in various religious texts and records. For instance, a monk named Brack of Clairvaux is mentioned in the chronicles of the Cistercian Order, active in the 12th century.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Brack. One of the earliest examples is Brack the Elder, a Danish chieftain who lived in the 10th century and is credited with establishing settlements in Greenland.
In the 16th century, Brack Underwood was an English merchant and explorer who is said to have accompanied Sir Walter Raleigh on his expeditions to the Americas. His journals provide valuable insight into the early colonization efforts in the New World.
Another prominent figure was Brack Gunderson, a Norwegian engineer born in 1842, who played a crucial role in the construction of the first railway system in Norway, contributing significantly to the country's industrial development.
In the field of literature, Brack Whitfield was an American poet and essayist born in 1878, known for his vivid descriptions of nature and the rural landscape of the American South.
Lastly, Brack Marsden, born in 1910, was a British military officer who served in World War II and later became a respected historian, publishing several works on the role of intelligence services during the war.
People
Brack + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Brack 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
Brack: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Brack?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 206 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Brack 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 1,663,856 US residents.
Is Brack a common name?
We classify Brack as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 405 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Brack most popular?
The single biggest year for Brack was 1922, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Brack is about 60 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Brack in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 312 people with the name Brack, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #28,685 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 Brack 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 Brack?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Brack appears almost entirely male. Of the 308 people counted with this name, 100.0% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Brack?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brack is White at 80.4%. The next largest groups are Black (12.2%) and Hispanic (2.6%). 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 Brack most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Brack in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.4% (251 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 Brack in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Brack a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Brack in the SSA data are male. 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 Brack still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Brack 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 Brack 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 Americans are named Brack?
See how many people share the name Brack on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.