Brand
A masculine name of Germanic origin meaning "fire" or "to burn".
Name Census estimates that about 281 living Americans carry the first name Brand. It is a predominantly male name (94.1% of registrations). The average person named Brand today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Brand births was 1988 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Brand. 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
281
~ 1 in 1,219,766 Americans
Peak year
1988
14 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2022 SSA rank
#9,085
Tracked since 1948
Census
Brand in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 530 people with the first name Brand, which placed it at #19,787 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
#19,787
National first-name rank
People counted
530
530 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
72.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Brand
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brand is White at 72.3%. The next largest groups are Black (9.6%) and Hispanic (9.6%). 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 Brand 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 Brand at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White72.3% · 383
- Black or African American9.6% · 51
- Hispanic or Latino9.6% · 51
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.8% · 20
- Two or more races3.8% · 20
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 5
Gender
Gender distribution for Brand
Brand leans heavily male at 94.1% of total registrations, but 18 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Brand as a male name
- Ranked #9,085 in 2022
- 8 male births in 2022
- Peak: 1953 (11 births)
Brand as a female name
- Ranked #9,351 in 1988
- 7 female births in 1988
- Peak: 1988 (7 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Brand on both sides of the split. Of the 530 people counted with this name, 424 were male (80.0%) and 106 were female (20.0%).
Popularity
Brand: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Brand from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 64 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Brand 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 Brand during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Brand
The name Brand has its origins in the Germanic language, deriving from the Old High German word "brant," which means "to burn" or "firebrand." This name's roots can be traced back to the early medieval period when it was commonly used in various regions of present-day Germany and the Netherlands.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Brand can be found in the Nibelungenlied, a renowned German epic poem from around the 13th century. In this literary work, Brand is the name of a knight who plays a significant role in the narrative.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Brand. One of the earliest was Brand van Steenbergen (c. 1350-1426), a Dutch scholar and theologian who served as a professor at the University of Cologne. He was renowned for his contributions to the study of canon law and his treatises on ecclesiastical subjects.
Another prominent figure was Brand Aydelotte (1880-1949), an American educator and diplomat. He served as the president of Swarthmore College from 1921 to 1940 and later became the first American secretary-general of the Rhodes Trust, responsible for overseeing the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship program.
In the realm of literature, Brand Whitlock (1869-1934) was an American writer, journalist, and diplomat. He gained recognition for his novels and served as the United States Ambassador to Belgium during World War I, playing a crucial role in protecting Belgian civilians during the German occupation.
The name Brand also had a significant presence in the world of sports. Brand Blanshard (1892-1987) was an American philosopher and former Olympic athlete who competed in the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden, where he won a silver medal in the high jump event.
Finally, Brand van Duren (c. 1430-1491) was a Dutch theologian and philosopher who lived during the Renaissance period. He was known for his teachings at the University of Louvain and his contributions to the study of Aristotelian philosophy and logic.
People
Brand + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Brand 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
Brand: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Brand?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 281 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Brand 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 1,219,766 US residents.
Is Brand a common name?
We classify Brand as "Very Rare". It ranks above 78.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 307 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Brand most popular?
The single biggest year for Brand was 1988, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Brand is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Brand in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 530 people with the name Brand, or 0.18 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,787 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 Brand 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 Brand?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Brand on both sides of the split. Of the 530 people counted with this name, 424 were male (80.0%) and 106 were female (20.0%). 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 Brand?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brand is White at 72.3%. The next largest groups are Black (9.6%) and Hispanic (9.6%). 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 Brand most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Brand in the 2020 Census, accounting for 72.3% (383 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 Brand in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Brand a male name?
Yes, 94.1% of people registered as Brand 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 Brand still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Brand 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 Brand 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 Brand?
Find out how many Americans are named Brand on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.