Brailee
A feminine name derived from the French surname Bréhault/Bréault, meaning "hill" or "small valley".
Name Census estimates that about 690 living Americans carry the first name Brailee. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Brailee today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Brailee births was 2015 (56 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Brailee. 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
690
~ 1 in 496,745 Americans
Peak year
2015
56 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,959
Tracked since 1992
Census
Brailee in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 502 people with the first name Brailee, which placed it at #20,542 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
#20,542
National first-name rank
People counted
502
502 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
74.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Brailee
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brailee is White at 74.1%. The next largest groups are Black (11.4%) and Two or More Races (6.4%). 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 Brailee 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 Brailee at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White74.1% · 372
- Black or African American11.4% · 57
- Two or more races6.4% · 32
- Hispanic or Latino5.8% · 29
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.0% · 10
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 2
Popularity
Brailee: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Brailee from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 371 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Brailee remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Brailee 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 Brailee during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Brailees live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. Texas, Ohio, Louisiana recorded the most babies named Brailee, while Oklahoma, Alabama, Louisiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 12 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Brailee
The name Brailee is a modern English invention, originating in the late 20th century. It is a combination of the name Brae, a Scottish word meaning "hillside" or "slope," and the popular suffix "-lee," which is of Old English origin meaning "meadow" or "clearing." While the individual components have historical roots, the name Brailee itself does not have any direct ties to ancient languages or cultures.
Despite its relatively recent coinage, a few notable individuals have borne the name Brailee. One of the earliest recorded examples is Brailee Faye Chambers, an American singer-songwriter born in 1991 in Oklahoma. She gained recognition for her participation in the reality TV show "The Voice" in 2013.
Another notable individual with the name Brailee is Brailee McDaniel, an American artistic gymnast born in 2006. She has competed at the national level and represented the United States at various international competitions, including the 2022 City of Jesolo Trophy in Italy.
In the literary world, Brailee Chambers is the name of a fictional character in the "Elemental Series" of young adult fantasy novels written by Susanne Valenti. The series, which began in 2013, follows the adventures of a group of teenagers with elemental powers.
Brailee Mallery is an American professional basketball player who was born in 1994. She played college basketball for the University of Oregon and has since played professionally in various leagues, including the WNBA and overseas.
Another notable individual with the name Brailee is Brailee LaMakes, an American child actress born in 2009. She has appeared in several television shows and films, including the 2018 movie "The Equalizer 2" alongside Denzel Washington.
While the name Brailee has gained some popularity in recent years, its usage remains relatively uncommon compared to more traditional names. Its unique blend of Scottish and Old English origins makes it a distinctive choice for parents seeking a modern yet meaningful name for their child.
People
Brailee + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Brailee 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
Brailee: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Brailee?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 690 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Brailee 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 496,745 US residents.
Is Brailee a common name?
We classify Brailee as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 697 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Brailee most popular?
The single biggest year for Brailee was 2015, when 56 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Brailee is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Brailee in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 502 people with the name Brailee, or 0.17 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,542 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 Brailee 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 Brailee?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Brailee appears almost entirely female. Of the 507 people counted with this name, 99.0% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Brailee?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brailee is White at 74.1%. The next largest groups are Black (11.4%) and Two or More Races (6.4%). 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 Brailee most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Brailee in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.1% (372 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 Brailee in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Brailee a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Brailee 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 Brailee still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Brailee 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 Brailee 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 Brailee as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.