Bradley
Bradley was given to 794 boys in 2025, #403 among boys’ names; 314,957 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 277,000 Americans named Bradley and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (88% of everyone recorded); the median is 43 years old and half are between 31 and 55.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Bradley by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Bradley mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Bradley is “a male given name transferred from the surname.” Its etymology gives the senses “broad” (brād) and “woodland” (lēah).
Ultimately from Old English brād (“broad”) + lēah (“woodland”). Equivalent to broad + -ley.
/ˈbɹædli/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Bradley?
#403 among boys’ names, 2025
Bradley fell from #173 in 2015 to #403 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 1.3 to 0.46 per 1,000.
7,262 babies in 1980, the peak
Bradley peaked in 1980, when 7,262 babies were given it (7,210 boys, #51 among boys’ names). The 830 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 11% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 794 | #403 | 0.46 |
| 2024 | 910 | #362 | 0.53 |
| 2023 | 908 | #359 | 0.53 |
| 2022 | 952 | #345 | 0.55 |
| 2021 | 1,074 | #313 | 0.61 |
| 2020 | 1,237 | #273 | 0.72 |
| 2019 | 1,443 | #253 | 0.80 |
| 2018 | 1,496 | #247 | 0.82 |
| 2017 | 1,649 | #230 | 0.89 |
| 2016 | 2,054 | #197 | 1.1 |
Every recorded year (141)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 2,402 | #173 | 1.3 |
| 2014 | 2,330 | #183 | 1.2 |
| 2013 | 2,330 | #176 | 1.2 |
| 2012 | 2,300 | #169 | 1.2 |
| 2011 | 2,161 | #177 | 1.1 |
| 2010 | 1,995 | #185 | 1.0 |
| 2009 | 1,951 | #196 | 1.0 |
| 2008 | 1,953 | #201 | 1.0 |
| 2007 | 2,075 | #194 | 1.0 |
| 2006 | 2,137 | #188 | 1.0 |
| 2005 | 2,409 | #173 | 1.2 |
| 2004 | 2,308 | #176 | 1.2 |
| 2003 | 2,394 | #165 | 1.2 |
| 2002 | 2,645 | #149 | 1.4 |
| 2001 | 2,729 | #145 | 1.4 |
| 2000 | 3,017 | #131 | 1.5 |
| 1999 | 3,576 | #104 | 1.9 |
| 1998 | 3,795 | #101 | 2.0 |
| 1997 | 4,124 | #94 | 2.2 |
| 1996 | 4,755 | #83 | 2.5 |
| 1995 | 4,764 | #78 | 2.5 |
| 1994 | 4,678 | #83 | 2.4 |
| 1993 | 5,136 | #73 | 2.6 |
| 1992 | 5,098 | #72 | 2.6 |
| 1991 | 5,723 | #67 | 2.8 |
| 1990 | 6,437 | #65 | 3.1 |
| 1989 | 6,977 | #58 | 3.5 |
| 1988 | 7,017 | #57 | 3.7 |
| 1987 | 6,918 | #56 | 3.7 |
| 1986 | 7,044 | #54 | 3.8 |
| 1985 | 7,011 | #53 | 3.8 |
| 1984 | 6,567 | #53 | 3.6 |
| 1983 | 6,738 | #52 | 3.8 |
| 1982 | 6,975 | #51 | 3.8 |
| 1981 | 6,895 | #50 | 3.8 |
| 1980 | 7,210 | #51 | 4.0 |
| 1979 | 6,923 | #47 | 4.0 |
| 1978 | 6,096 | #53 | 3.7 |
| 1977 | 6,431 | #49 | 3.9 |
| 1976 | 5,976 | #51 | 3.8 |
| 1975 | 5,894 | #52 | 3.8 |
| 1974 | 5,173 | #58 | 3.3 |
| 1973 | 4,748 | #62 | 3.0 |
| 1972 | 4,839 | #61 | 3.0 |
| 1971 | 5,780 | #58 | 3.3 |
| 1970 | 6,818 | #47 | 3.7 |
| 1969 | 6,389 | #53 | 3.6 |
| 1968 | 4,804 | #57 | 2.8 |
| 1967 | 4,342 | #66 | 2.5 |
| 1966 | 4,555 | #68 | 2.6 |
| 1965 | 4,787 | #72 | 2.6 |
| 1964 | 4,960 | #77 | 2.5 |
| 1963 | 4,765 | #82 | 2.3 |
| 1962 | 4,637 | #87 | 2.2 |
| 1961 | 4,745 | #87 | 2.2 |
| 1960 | 4,746 | #90 | 2.2 |
| 1959 | 4,052 | #103 | 1.9 |
| 1958 | 3,734 | #108 | 1.8 |
| 1957 | 3,528 | #107 | 1.6 |
| 1956 | 3,519 | #103 | 1.7 |
| 1955 | 3,183 | #107 | 1.5 |
| 1954 | 3,240 | #106 | 1.6 |
| 1953 | 2,764 | #118 | 1.4 |
| 1952 | 2,045 | #141 | 1.1 |
| 1951 | 1,810 | #146 | 1.0 |
| 1950 | 1,632 | #152 | 0.91 |
| 1949 | 1,311 | #174 | 0.74 |
| 1948 | 1,029 | #192 | 0.59 |
| 1947 | 830 | #221 | 0.45 |
| 1946 | 561 | #270 | 0.35 |
| 1945 | 310 | #339 | 0.23 |
| 1944 | 307 | #341 | 0.23 |
| 1943 | 329 | #339 | 0.23 |
| 1942 | 342 | #327 | 0.25 |
| 1941 | 286 | #343 | 0.23 |
| 1940 | 227 | #380 | 0.20 |
| 1939 | 206 | #395 | 0.19 |
| 1938 | 207 | #396 | 0.19 |
| 1937 | 216 | #376 | 0.20 |
| 1936 | 215 | #373 | 0.21 |
| 1935 | 237 | #357 | 0.23 |
| 1934 | 166 | #437 | 0.16 |
| 1933 | 160 | #436 | 0.16 |
| 1932 | 140 | #484 | 0.13 |
| 1931 | 161 | #444 | 0.15 |
| 1930 | 122 | #543 | 0.11 |
| 1929 | 110 | #564 | 0.10 |
| 1928 | 110 | #589 | 0.10 |
| 1927 | 91 | #670 | 0.08 |
| 1926 | 81 | #709 | 0.07 |
| 1925 | 79 | #731 | 0.07 |
| 1924 | 86 | #710 | 0.08 |
| 1923 | 80 | #729 | 0.07 |
| 1922 | 86 | #703 | 0.08 |
| 1921 | 64 | #869 | 0.06 |
| 1920 | 86 | #692 | 0.08 |
| 1919 | 53 | #919 | 0.05 |
| 1918 | 81 | #702 | 0.08 |
| 1917 | 49 | #910 | 0.05 |
| 1916 | 70 | #715 | 0.08 |
| 1915 | 66 | #734 | 0.08 |
| 1914 | 44 | #797 | 0.07 |
| 1913 | 42 | #713 | 0.08 |
| 1912 | 36 | #714 | 0.08 |
| 1911 | 21 | #692 | 0.09 |
| 1910 | 17 | #731 | 0.09 |
| 1909 | 19 | #617 | 0.12 |
| 1908 | 18 | #613 | 0.12 |
| 1907 | 14 | #704 | 0.10 |
| 1906 | 12 | #715 | 0.09 |
| 1905 | 9 | #846 | 0.07 |
| 1904 | 15 | #588 | 0.12 |
| 1903 | 6 | #1,025 | 0.05 |
| 1902 | 9 | #802 | 0.07 |
| 1901 | 11 | #639 | 0.10 |
| 1900 | 15 | #650 | 0.10 |
| 1899 | 8 | #793 | 0.08 |
| 1898 | 15 | #546 | 0.12 |
| 1897 | 16 | #499 | 0.14 |
| 1896 | 24 | #400 | 0.20 |
| 1895 | 26 | #370 | 0.22 |
| 1894 | 9 | #738 | 0.08 |
| 1893 | 6 | #925 | 0.05 |
| 1891 | 5 | #990 | 0.05 |
| 1890 | 9 | #671 | 0.08 |
| 1887 | 5 | #947 | 0.05 |
| 1885 | 9 | #650 | 0.08 |
| 1883 | 8 | #687 | 0.08 |
| 1882 | 5 | #957 | 0.04 |
| 1881 | 10 | #567 | 0.10 |
| 1880 | 5 | #931 | 0.05 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Bradley a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Bradley has been given almost only to boys: 1,949 girls in 141 years of records.
Girls and boys named Bradley: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Bradley, and how old are they?
277,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 88% of the 314,957 Americans ever recorded as Bradley. The median Bradley alive today is 43 years old; half are between 31 and 55.
The 2020 Census counted 237,481 people named Bradley (911 women and girls, 236,570 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 281,256 born in the U.S. The Census count is 16% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 914 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 40,400 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 80,800 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 94,100 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 41,000 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 20,100 |
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 Bradley born?
The states with the most babies named Bradley are California, Illinois and Ohio, with 20% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 24,191 | #485 | 0.7× |
| Illinois | 19,298 | #517 | 1.2× |
| Ohio | 19,021 | #412 | 1.3× |
| Texas | 17,630 | #441 | 0.7× |
| Michigan | 16,415 | #462 | 1.3× |
| Pennsylvania | 14,727 | #416 | 1.0× |
| Indiana | 12,578 | #380 | 1.6× |
| New York | 12,411 | #399 | 0.5× |
| Minnesota | 11,705 | #423 | 1.9× |
| Florida | 10,736 | #301 | 0.9× |
Where Bradley is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Bradley is most over-represented in Minnesota: since 1910 it was given 1.9 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 Bradley 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 6 names spelled alike, given to 328,804 babies since 1880, Bradley is the most given (96% of them). In 2025 it was given to 830 of their 881 babies (94%), again the 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 Bradley
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 Bradley and names like it
- Compare Bradley and BradlyBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1980sBradley peaked in 1980.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Bradley since 1910.
- From surnamesWiktionary’s origin for Bradley: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1980The year the most babies were named Bradley.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Bradley alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with BMost given first.