Brendan
A masculine Irish name meaning "prince".
Name Census estimates that about 88,322 living Americans carry the first name Brendan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Brendan today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Brendan births was 1999 (4,004 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Brendan. 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 Brendan with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Brendan is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 325 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1990s, recent registration numbers for Brendan have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
88K
~ 1 in 3,881 Americans
Peak year
1999
4,004 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,009
Tracked since 1912
Census
Brendan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 85,399 people with the first name Brendan, which placed it at #617 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
#617
National first-name rank
People counted
85K
85,399 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
28.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
84.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Brendan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brendan is White at 84.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.1%) and Two or More Races (4.2%). 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 Brendan 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 Brendan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White84.5% · 72,196
- Hispanic or Latino5.1% · 4,377
- Two or more races4.2% · 3,556
- Black or African American3.4% · 2,875
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.4% · 2,055
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 340
Gender
Gender distribution for Brendan
Out of the 91,937 babies given the name Brendan since 1880, 99.6% 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.
Brendan as a male name
- Ranked #1,009 in 2024
- 221 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1999 (3,994 births)
Brendan as a female name
- Ranked #12,778 in 2008
- 8 female births in 2008
- Peak: 1993 (19 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Brendan appears almost entirely male. Of the 85,406 people counted with this name, 99.7% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Brendan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Brendan from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 28,620 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Brendan 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 Brendan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Brendans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. New York, California, Massachusetts recorded the most babies named Brendan, while Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,744 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Brendan
The name Brendan is an Irish name derived from the Gaelic word "Brenann" meaning "prince" or "sea-warrior". It has its roots in the ancient Celtic culture of Ireland, dating back to the 5th century AD.
The name was popularized by St. Brendan the Navigator, an Irish monk who lived from around 484 to 577 AD. He is renowned for his legendary voyage across the Atlantic Ocean, which was recorded in the 9th century text "Navigatio Sancti Brendani Abbatis" (The Voyage of St. Brendan the Abbot).
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Annals of Ulster, an ancient chronicle compiled by Irish monks, which mentions a "Brendan of Cluain" in the year 558 AD.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Brendan. St. Brendan of Clonfert (c. 484-577 AD) was an Irish monastic saint who founded several monasteries and is the patron saint of mariners and navigators. Brendan Behan (1923-1964) was an Irish poet, short story writer, and playwright, known for his works like "The Quare Fellow" and "The Hostage".
Other famous individuals named Brendan include Brendan Gleeson (born 1955), an Irish actor known for his roles in films like "Braveheart" and the "Harry Potter" series; Brendan Bracken (1901-1958), a British politician and close confidant of Winston Churchill; and Brendan O'Carroll (born 1955), an Irish actor and writer, best known for creating and starring in the popular sitcom "Mrs. Brown's Boys".
The name Brendan has maintained its popularity, particularly in Ireland and among Irish communities around the world, as a nod to the country's rich cultural heritage and the legendary figure of St. Brendan the Navigator.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Brendan
People
Brendan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Brendan 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
Brendan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Brendan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 88,322 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Brendan 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 3,881 US residents.
Is Brendan a common name?
We classify Brendan as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 91,937 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Brendan most popular?
The single biggest year for Brendan was 1999, when 4,004 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Brendan is about 31 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Brendan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 85,399 people with the name Brendan, or 28.28 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #617 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 Brendan 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 Brendan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Brendan appears almost entirely male. Of the 85,406 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Brendan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brendan is White at 84.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.1%) and Two or More Races (4.2%). 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 Brendan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Brendan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.5% (72,196 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 Brendan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Brendan a male name?
Yes, 99.6% of people registered as Brendan 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 Brendan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Brendan 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 Brendan 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 common is the name Brendan?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.