Breck
A name of Celtic origin associated with the Old Gaelic "brec" meaning freckled or speckled.
Name Census estimates that about 2,883 living Americans carry the first name Breck. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 85.4% of registrations being male. The average person named Breck today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Breck births was 2016 (93 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Breck. 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
2.9K
~ 1 in 118,888 Americans
Peak year
2016
93 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,669
Tracked since 1945
Census
Breck in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,435 people with the first name Breck, which placed it at #6,554 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
#6,554
National first-name rank
People counted
2.4K
2,435 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
88.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Breck
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Breck is White at 88.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.8%) and Two or More Races (3.6%). 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 Breck 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 Breck at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White88.3% · 2,149
- Hispanic or Latino3.8% · 93
- Two or more races3.6% · 88
- Black or African American3.4% · 83
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 15
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 7
Gender
Gender distribution for Breck
Breck leans heavily male at 85.4% of total registrations, but 444 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Breck as a male name
- Ranked #2,669 in 2024
- 49 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2016 (86 births)
Breck as a female name
- Ranked #10,383 in 2024
- 9 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2000 (16 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Breck leans strongly male. 2,032 people counted with this name were male (82.9%), compared with 419 female bearers (17.1%).
Popularity
Breck: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Breck from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 788 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Breck remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Breck 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 Breck during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Brecks live
The SSA's state-level files cover 17 states and territories. Texas, Colorado, Minnesota recorded the most babies named Breck, while Tennessee, Nebraska, Mississippi recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 33 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Breck
The name Breck has its origins in the Gaelic language and culture, deriving from the word "breac," which means "speckled" or "freckled." This name likely emerged during the medieval period in Scotland and Ireland, where Gaelic was widely spoken.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Breck can be found in the Scottish Clan history, where it was used as a surname for families with freckled or speckled complexions. The name gained popularity as a given name in the 16th and 17th centuries among Scottish and Irish families.
In terms of historical references, the name Breck is not widely mentioned in ancient texts or religious scriptures. However, it gained some prominence during the Scottish Renaissance, particularly in the works of poets and writers who celebrated the beauty and uniqueness of freckled complexions.
One notable figure with the name Breck was Breck Parkman (1809-1892), an American horticulturist and landscape architect. He was responsible for designing several renowned public gardens and parks in the United States, including the Boston Public Garden.
Another significant bearer of the name was Breck Eisner (born 1970), an American film director and screenwriter. He is best known for directing the 2010 remake of the horror classic "The Crazies" and the 2011 action-adventure film "Sahara."
In the world of literature, Breck Ardery (1939-2008) was an American author and journalist. He wrote several books on social issues and was a prominent voice in the civil rights movement in the United States.
Breck Carleton (1925-2005) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as a member of the House of Commons of Canada for over two decades, representing the riding of Peterborough.
Lastly, Breck Bathgate (1873-1949) was a Scottish-born American baseball player who played for several Major League Baseball teams in the early 20th century, including the Philadelphia Phillies and the St. Louis Cardinals.
These individuals, spanning various fields and time periods, have carried the name Breck and contributed to its historical significance and cultural prominence.
People
Breck + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Breck 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
Breck: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Breck?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,883 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Breck 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 118,888 US residents.
Is Breck a common name?
We classify Breck as "Rare". It ranks above 95.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,051 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Breck most popular?
The single biggest year for Breck was 2016, when 93 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Breck is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Breck in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,435 people with the name Breck, or 0.81 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,554 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 Breck 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 Breck?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Breck leans strongly male. 2,032 people counted with this name were male (82.9%), compared with 419 female bearers (17.1%). 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 Breck?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Breck is White at 88.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.8%) and Two or More Races (3.6%). 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 Breck most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Breck in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.3% (2,149 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 Breck in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Breck a male name?
Yes, 85.4% of people registered as Breck 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 Breck still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Breck 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 Breck 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 share the name Breck?
Want to know how many people share the name Breck? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.