Brunella
A feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly meaning "little brown one".
Name Census estimates that about 55 living Americans carry the first name Brunella. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Brunella today is around 59 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Brunella births was 1953 (9 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Brunella. 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 Brunella with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Brunella. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
55
~ 1 in 6,231,897 Americans
Peak year
1953
9 babies that year
Average age
59
years old
2018 SSA rank
#14,103
Tracked since 1949
Census
Brunella in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 247 people with the first name Brunella, which placed it at #33,475 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
#33,475
National first-name rank
People counted
247
247 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
42.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Brunella
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brunella is White at 42.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (37.2%) and Black (19.4%). 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 Brunella 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 Brunella at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White42.5% · 105
- Hispanic or Latino37.2% · 92
- Black or African American19.4% · 48
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 2
Popularity
Brunella: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Brunella from the 1940s through to the 2010s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 54 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Brunella 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 Brunella 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 Brunella
Brunella is a feminine given name with origins in the Italian language. It is a diminutive form of the name Bruno, which means "brown" and ultimately derives from the Proto-Germanic word "brun". The name Brunella first appeared in medieval Italy, particularly in regions like Tuscany and Lombardy.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Brunella can be found in the 13th-century Italian novella collection Il Novellino. Here, Brunella is the name of a character who appears in several stories. This suggests that the name was in use among commoners and literary circles of the time.
In the 14th century, Brunella Latini was an Italian noblewoman and the wife of the renowned poet and philosopher Dante Alighieri. She is mentioned in Dante's acclaimed work, the Divine Comedy, as well as in some of his other writings.
During the Renaissance period, Brunella Bianchi (1480-1545) was an Italian painter and engraver from Venice. She is considered one of the earliest known female printmakers and is renowned for her intricate engravings depicting religious and mythological subjects.
In the 16th century, Brunella Curti (1549-1598) was an Italian botanist and philosopher. She is notable for her contributions to the study of plant life and for her writings on the philosophy of nature.
Brunella Goretti (1890-1988) was an Italian Roman Catholic nun who lived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She was the sister of St. Maria Goretti, and her eyewitness account of her sister's martyrdom played a crucial role in the canonization process.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who have borne the name Brunella. While the name has its roots in medieval Italy, it has since spread to other parts of the world, particularly among Italian communities, and has endured as a beautiful and distinctive feminine name.
People
Brunella + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Brunella 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
Brunella: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Brunella?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 55 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Brunella 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 6,231,897 US residents.
Is Brunella a common name?
We classify Brunella as "Very Rare". It ranks above 55.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 75 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Brunella most popular?
The single biggest year for Brunella was 1953, when 9 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Brunella is about 59 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Brunella in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 247 people with the name Brunella, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #33,475 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 Brunella 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 Brunella?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Brunella appears almost entirely female. Of the 244 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Brunella?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brunella is White at 42.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (37.2%) and Black (19.4%). 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 Brunella most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Brunella in the 2020 Census, accounting for 42.5% (105 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 Brunella in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Brunella a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Brunella in the SSA data are female. 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 Brunella still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Brunella 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 Brunella 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 Brunella?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Brunella, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.