Braden
Braden was given to 183 boys in 2025, #1,152 among boys’ names; 46,512 Americans have been recorded with it since 1916 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 45,400 Americans named Braden and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (98% of everyone recorded); the median is 21 years old and half are between 17 and 27.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Braden by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Braden mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Braden is “a male given name transferred from the surname, of 1990s and 2000s usage.” Its etymology gives the senses “descendant of Bradán” (Bradáin) and “salmon,” (meaning) and “salmon” (bradán).
Anglicised from an Irish surname Ó Bradáin (“descendant of Bradán”), from a personal name meaning “salmon,” from bradán (“salmon”).
/ˈbɹeɪdən/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Braden?
#1,152 among boys’ names, 2025
Braden fell from #411 in 2015 to #1,152 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 0.40 to 0.11 per 1,000.
3,058 babies in 2005, the peak
Braden peaked in 2005, when 3,058 babies were given it (3,046 boys, #133 among boys’ names). The 183 births of 2025 are 6% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 183 | #1,152 | 0.11 |
| 2024 | 159 | #1,244 | 0.09 |
| 2023 | 187 | #1,129 | 0.11 |
| 2022 | 245 | #935 | 0.14 |
| 2021 | 255 | #903 | 0.15 |
| 2020 | 287 | #809 | 0.17 |
| 2019 | 388 | #671 | 0.22 |
| 2018 | 480 | #576 | 0.26 |
| 2017 | 513 | #546 | 0.28 |
| 2016 | 599 | #501 | 0.32 |
Every recorded year (89)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 758 | #411 | 0.40 |
| 2014 | 894 | #357 | 0.47 |
| 2013 | 965 | #335 | 0.51 |
| 2012 | 1,135 | #303 | 0.60 |
| 2011 | 1,342 | #259 | 0.71 |
| 2010 | 1,710 | #207 | 0.89 |
| 2009 | 2,034 | #185 | 1.0 |
| 2008 | 2,524 | #156 | 1.2 |
| 2007 | 2,689 | #156 | 1.3 |
| 2006 | 2,857 | #143 | 1.4 |
| 2005 | 3,046 | #133 | 1.5 |
| 2004 | 2,621 | #154 | 1.3 |
| 2003 | 2,353 | #170 | 1.2 |
| 2002 | 2,291 | #168 | 1.2 |
| 2001 | 1,923 | #191 | 1.0 |
| 2000 | 1,733 | #204 | 0.88 |
| 1999 | 1,643 | #208 | 0.86 |
| 1998 | 1,190 | #251 | 0.62 |
| 1997 | 1,050 | #267 | 0.56 |
| 1996 | 1,004 | #278 | 0.53 |
| 1995 | 817 | #322 | 0.43 |
| 1994 | 721 | #341 | 0.37 |
| 1993 | 585 | #396 | 0.30 |
| 1992 | 544 | #412 | 0.27 |
| 1991 | 439 | #472 | 0.22 |
| 1990 | 396 | #485 | 0.19 |
| 1989 | 342 | #517 | 0.17 |
| 1988 | 286 | #544 | 0.15 |
| 1987 | 286 | #536 | 0.15 |
| 1986 | 300 | #506 | 0.16 |
| 1985 | 276 | #525 | 0.15 |
| 1984 | 192 | #614 | 0.11 |
| 1983 | 160 | #675 | 0.09 |
| 1982 | 196 | #620 | 0.11 |
| 1981 | 158 | #687 | 0.09 |
| 1980 | 147 | #721 | 0.08 |
| 1979 | 118 | #799 | 0.07 |
| 1978 | 108 | #820 | 0.07 |
| 1977 | 117 | #792 | 0.07 |
| 1976 | 86 | #894 | 0.05 |
| 1975 | 85 | #895 | 0.05 |
| 1974 | 68 | #994 | 0.04 |
| 1973 | 61 | #1,037 | 0.04 |
| 1972 | 45 | #1,231 | 0.03 |
| 1971 | 59 | #1,057 | 0.03 |
| 1970 | 67 | #991 | 0.04 |
| 1969 | 33 | #1,397 | 0.02 |
| 1968 | 31 | #1,394 | 0.02 |
| 1967 | 34 | #1,289 | 0.02 |
| 1966 | 39 | #1,200 | 0.02 |
| 1965 | 40 | #1,209 | 0.02 |
| 1964 | 25 | #1,583 | 0.01 |
| 1963 | 23 | #1,662 | 0.01 |
| 1962 | 16 | #2,041 | 0.01 |
| 1961 | 19 | #1,883 | 0.01 |
| 1960 | 11 | #2,548 | 0.01 |
| 1959 | 15 | #2,124 | 0.01 |
| 1958 | 14 | #2,183 | 0.01 |
| 1957 | 16 | #2,028 | 0.01 |
| 1956 | 23 | #1,643 | 0.01 |
| 1955 | 22 | #1,650 | 0.01 |
| 1954 | 15 | #2,052 | 0.01 |
| 1953 | 19 | #1,769 | 0.01 |
| 1952 | 13 | #2,161 | 0.01 |
| 1951 | 7 | #3,092 | under 0.01 |
| 1950 | 12 | #2,220 | 0.01 |
| 1949 | 7 | #3,054 | under 0.01 |
| 1948 | 7 | #3,031 | under 0.01 |
| 1947 | 15 | #1,999 | 0.01 |
| 1946 | 8 | #2,718 | under 0.01 |
| 1944 | 7 | #2,890 | 0.01 |
| 1939 | 5 | #3,542 | under 0.01 |
| 1936 | 7 | #2,890 | 0.01 |
| 1934 | 5 | #3,726 | under 0.01 |
| 1931 | 5 | #3,821 | under 0.01 |
| 1928 | 5 | #4,221 | under 0.01 |
| 1924 | 7 | #3,531 | 0.01 |
| 1923 | 7 | #3,510 | 0.01 |
| 1916 | 6 | #3,551 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Braden a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Braden has been given almost only to boys: 277 girls in 89 years of records.
Girls and boys named Braden: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Braden, and how old are they?
45,400 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 98% of the 46,512 Americans ever recorded as Braden. The median Braden alive today is 21 years old; half are between 17 and 27.
The 2020 Census counted 43,698 people named Braden (320 women and girls, 43,378 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 44,478 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 6 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 196 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,030 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 6,490 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 31,800 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 5,870 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Braden born?
The states with the most babies named Braden are California, Texas and Pennsylvania, with 31% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 15 | #1,254 | 0.5× |
| Texas | 13 | #1,422 | 0.9× |
| Pennsylvania | 11 | #748 | 1.1× |
| Ohio | 10 | #809 | 1.4× |
| Georgia | 10 | #858 | 0.7× |
| Michigan | 9 | #775 | 0.8× |
| Virginia | 9 | #741 | 0.8× |
| Florida | 8 | #1,369 | 0.7× |
| North Carolina | 8 | #950 | 0.6× |
| New Jersey | 8 | #780 | 0.3× |
Where Braden is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Braden is most over-represented in Oklahoma: since 1916 it was given 2.9 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Braden with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 231,698 babies since 1880, Braden is the second most given (20% of them). In 2025 it was given to 183 of their 1,962 babies (9.3%), again the second most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Braden
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Braden and names like it
- Compare Braden and BraydenBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2000sBraden peaked in 2005.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Braden since 1910.
- From surnamesWiktionary’s origin for Braden: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2005The year the most babies were named Braden.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Braden alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with BMost given first.