Braden
From a broad valley; a meadow by the stream; wide expanse.
Name Census estimates that about 45,460 living Americans carry the first name Braden. It is a predominantly male name (99.4% of registrations). The average person named Braden today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Braden births was 2005 (3,058 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Braden. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Braden with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Braden is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 277 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 2000s, recent registration numbers for Braden have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
45K
~ 1 in 7,540 Americans
Peak year
2005
3,058 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,246
Tracked since 1916
Census
Braden in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 43,699 people with the first name Braden, which placed it at #984 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
#984
National first-name rank
People counted
44K
43,699 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
14.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
84.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Braden
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Braden is White at 84.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.2%) and Hispanic (4.9%). 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 Braden 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 Braden at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White84.9% · 37,121
- Two or more races5.2% · 2,276
- Hispanic or Latino4.9% · 2,161
- Black or African American2.7% · 1,181
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 542
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 418
Gender
Gender distribution for Braden
Out of the 46,327 babies given the name Braden since 1880, 99.4% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Braden as a male name
- Ranked #1,246 in 2024
- 158 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2005 (3,046 births)
Braden as a female name
- Ranked #16,979 in 2013
- 5 female births in 2013
- Peak: 2002 (24 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Braden appears almost entirely male. Of the 43,698 people counted with this name, 99.3% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Braden: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Braden from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 24,209 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Braden 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 Braden during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Bradens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Braden, while District of Columbia, Vermont, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 854 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Braden
The name Braden is an English given name derived from the Old English word "brad," meaning "broad" or "wide." It was initially used as a surname, referring to someone who lived near a wide expanse of land or a broad meadow.
In the Middle Ages, the name Braden was primarily found in regions of England, particularly in the counties of Yorkshire and Lancashire. It gained popularity as a first name during the 17th and 18th centuries, when the practice of using surnames as given names became more common among the English gentry and aristocracy.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Braden can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, where a landowner named Braden is mentioned. This historical record provides evidence of the name's existence in England during the Norman conquest.
Among the notable historical figures who bore the name Braden is Sir Braden Howard (1564-1628), an English soldier and Member of Parliament during the reign of King James I. Another prominent figure was Braden Craven (1670-1744), an English playwright and novelist known for his works such as "The Successful Pirate" and "The True Patriot."
In the 19th century, Braden Wyndham (1812-1876) was a British politician and writer who served as a Member of Parliament for several constituencies. He was also an accomplished author, publishing works on various subjects, including history and politics.
During the American Civil War, Braden Morse (1836-1865) was a Union Army officer who fought bravely in several battles, including the Battle of Cold Harbor, where he lost his life.
In more recent times, Braden Looper (born 1974) is an American former professional baseball player who pitched for several Major League Baseball teams, including the St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers.
Overall, the name Braden has a rich history rooted in English culture and language, with notable individuals bearing this name throughout various periods, from medieval times to the present day.
People
Braden + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Braden 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
Braden: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Braden?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 45,460 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Braden 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 7,540 US residents.
Is Braden a common name?
We classify Braden as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 46,327 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Braden most popular?
The single biggest year for Braden was 2005, when 3,058 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Braden is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Braden in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 43,699 people with the name Braden, or 14.47 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #984 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 Braden 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 Braden?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Braden appears almost entirely male. Of the 43,698 people counted with this name, 99.3% 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 Braden?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Braden is White at 84.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.2%) and Hispanic (4.9%). 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 Braden most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Braden in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.9% (37,121 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 Braden in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Braden a male name?
Yes, 99.4% of people registered as Braden 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 Braden still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Braden 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 Braden 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 are named Braden?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.