Broderick
A masculine name of Old German origin meaning "bright one".
Name Census estimates that about 8,474 living Americans carry the first name Broderick. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Broderick today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Broderick births was 2009 (253 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Broderick. 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 Broderick with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
8.5K
~ 1 in 40,448 Americans
Peak year
2009
253 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,391
Tracked since 1950
Census
Broderick in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 6,679 people with the first name Broderick, which placed it at #3,220 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
#3,220
National first-name rank
People counted
6.7K
6,679 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
47.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Broderick
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Broderick is White at 47.1%. The next largest groups are Black (42.0%) and Two or More Races (5.0%). 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 Broderick 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 Broderick at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White47.1% · 3,143
- Black or African American42.0% · 2,805
- Two or more races5.0% · 332
- Hispanic or Latino4.0% · 267
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 79
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 53
Popularity
Broderick: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Broderick from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 1,889 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
Broderick 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 Broderick during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Brodericks live
The SSA's state-level files cover 34 states and territories. Texas, California, Louisiana recorded the most babies named Broderick, while Oklahoma, New Jersey, Utah recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 165 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Broderick
The name Broderick originated from the Old English word "brodor," which means "brother." It was a common name used in medieval England, particularly among Christian families who saw the name as a symbol of brotherhood and unity within the church.
The earliest recorded use of the name Broderick dates back to the 11th century, when it appeared in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive record of landholders and properties in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. This suggests that the name was already established within Anglo-Saxon communities before the Norman Conquest.
One of the earliest notable figures to bear the name Broderick was Broderick the Saxon, a prominent landowner and nobleman who lived during the reign of King Henry II in the 12th century. He was known for his role in the conflicts between the English and Welsh during that period.
Another historical figure with the name Broderick was Saint Broderick, a 7th-century Irish monk and missionary who played a significant role in spreading Christianity throughout northern England and Scotland. He is revered as the patron saint of several parishes in the British Isles.
In the 16th century, Broderick Douglas was a Scottish nobleman and military leader who fought alongside King James IV of Scotland at the Battle of Flodden in 1513. Despite being captured by the English, he later played a crucial role in the defense of Scotland during the Anglo-Scottish Wars.
Broderick Crawford, an American actor born in 1911 and died in 1986, is perhaps one of the most famous individuals with this name in modern times. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Willie Stark in the 1949 film "All the King's Men."
Another notable figure was Broderick Hogan, an Irish revolutionary born in 1903 and died in 1988. He was a prominent member of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and played a significant role in the Irish War of Independence and the subsequent Irish Civil War.
While the name Broderick has its roots in Old English and was predominantly used in the British Isles, it has since gained popularity in various parts of the world, particularly in English-speaking countries, as a reflection of its rich historical heritage and cultural significance.
People
Broderick + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Broderick 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
Broderick: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Broderick?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 8,474 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Broderick 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 40,448 US residents.
Is Broderick a common name?
We classify Broderick as "Rare". It ranks above 97.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 8,900 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Broderick most popular?
The single biggest year for Broderick was 2009, when 253 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Broderick 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 Broderick in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 6,679 people with the name Broderick, or 2.21 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,220 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 Broderick 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 Broderick?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Broderick appears almost entirely male. Of the 6,679 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Broderick?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Broderick is White at 47.1%. The next largest groups are Black (42.0%) and Two or More Races (5.0%). 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 Broderick most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Broderick in the 2020 Census, accounting for 47.1% (3,143 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 Broderick in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Broderick a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Broderick 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 Broderick still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Broderick 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 Broderick 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 called Broderick?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Broderick at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.