Brogan
An anglicized form of the Irish name Brogán meaning "little shoe or footwear".
Name Census estimates that about 4,923 living Americans carry the first name Brogan. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 82.6% of registrations being male. The average person named Brogan today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Brogan births was 2011 (312 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Brogan. 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 Brogan with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
4.9K
~ 1 in 69,623 Americans
Peak year
2011
312 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,693
Tracked since 1983
Census
Brogan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,478 people with the first name Brogan, which placed it at #4,243 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
#4,243
National first-name rank
People counted
4.5K
4,478 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
90.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Brogan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brogan is White at 90.5%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.4%) and Hispanic (3.7%). 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 Brogan 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 Brogan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White90.5% · 4,053
- Two or more races4.4% · 195
- Hispanic or Latino3.7% · 166
- Black or African American0.6% · 28
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 20
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 16
Gender
Gender distribution for Brogan
Brogan leans heavily male at 82.6% of total registrations, but 867 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Brogan as a male name
- Ranked #3,693 in 2024
- 30 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2011 (287 births)
Brogan as a female name
- Ranked #11,258 in 2024
- 8 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1990 (46 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Brogan leans strongly male. 3,700 people counted with this name were male (82.7%), compared with 774 female bearers (17.3%).
Popularity
Brogan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Brogan from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,922 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Brogan 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 Brogan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Brogans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 35 states and territories. Ohio, California, Illinois recorded the most babies named Brogan, while Kentucky, Alabama, Maryland recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 69 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Brogan
The name Brogan has its origins in the Irish language, where it is derived from the Gaelic word "bróg," meaning "shoe." It is believed to have first emerged as a surname in Ireland during the Middle Ages, likely referring to someone who worked as a shoemaker or had some association with the shoe trade.
While the exact origins of Brogan as a given name are unclear, it is thought to have gained popularity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, possibly as a way to honor one's Irish heritage or to pay tribute to an ancestor with the surname Brogan. The name has since been adopted in various English-speaking countries, particularly in the United States, Canada, and Australia.
One of the earliest recorded instances of Brogan as a first name can be found in the works of Irish playwright and novelist Seán O'Casey, who featured a character named Brogan in his 1923 play "The Shadow of a Gunman." This early literary reference may have contributed to the name's broader recognition and usage.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Brogan. One such figure is Brogan Duffy (1924-1975), an Irish republican and member of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) during the 20th century. Another is Brogan BamBrogan (1947-2006), a Canadian actor and voice artist best known for his work on the animated series "Dragonball Z" and "Sailor Moon."
In the world of sports, Brogan Towler (born 1993) is a professional rugby league player from England, currently playing for the Leeds Rhinos in the Super League. Brogan Rafferty (born 1984) is an Australian boxer who competed in the lightweight division and won multiple national titles.
Lastly, Brogan Bentley (born 1991) is a British author and poet, known for her works exploring themes of identity, feminism, and mental health. Her debut poetry collection, "Reservoir," was published in 2018 and received critical acclaim.
While not an exhaustive list, these examples showcase the diverse backgrounds and accomplishments of individuals who have carried the name Brogan throughout history, reflecting its enduring presence across various cultures and disciplines.
People
Brogan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Brogan 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
Brogan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Brogan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,923 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Brogan 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 69,623 US residents.
Is Brogan a common name?
We classify Brogan as "Rare". It ranks above 96.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,991 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Brogan most popular?
The single biggest year for Brogan was 2011, when 312 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Brogan is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Brogan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,478 people with the name Brogan, or 1.48 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,243 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 Brogan 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 Brogan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Brogan leans strongly male. 3,700 people counted with this name were male (82.7%), compared with 774 female bearers (17.3%). 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 Brogan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brogan is White at 90.5%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.4%) and Hispanic (3.7%). 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 Brogan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Brogan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 90.5% (4,053 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 Brogan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Brogan a male name?
Yes, 82.6% of people registered as Brogan 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 Brogan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Brogan 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 Brogan 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 Americans are named Brogan?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Brogan at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.