Brain
Brain was last recorded in 2017, when 6 babies were given it; 4,606 Americans have been recorded with it between 1950 and 2017 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 4,180 Americans named Brain and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (91% of everyone recorded); the median is 47 years old and half are between 40 and 54.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Brain by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Brain?
Unranked in 2025
Its last boys’ rank on record is #10,958, in 2017; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
189 babies in 1982, the peak
Brain peaked in 1982, when 189 boys were given it, #632 among boys’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 6 | #10,958 | under 0.01 |
| 2016 | 5 | #12,440 | under 0.01 |
| 2013 | 7 | #9,773 | under 0.01 |
| 2012 | 6 | #10,959 | under 0.01 |
| 2011 | 7 | #9,740 | under 0.01 |
| 2010 | 8 | #8,906 | under 0.01 |
| 2009 | 7 | #10,000 | under 0.01 |
| 2008 | 13 | #6,438 | 0.01 |
| 2007 | 13 | #6,307 | 0.01 |
| 2006 | 13 | #6,136 | 0.01 |
Every recorded year (62)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 23 | #3,950 | 0.01 |
| 2004 | 13 | #5,845 | 0.01 |
| 2003 | 28 | #3,288 | 0.01 |
| 2002 | 24 | #3,560 | 0.01 |
| 2001 | 29 | #3,067 | 0.01 |
| 2000 | 28 | #3,078 | 0.01 |
| 1999 | 24 | #3,286 | 0.01 |
| 1998 | 32 | #2,599 | 0.02 |
| 1997 | 25 | #2,987 | 0.01 |
| 1996 | 30 | #2,536 | 0.02 |
| 1995 | 24 | #2,925 | 0.01 |
| 1994 | 39 | #2,083 | 0.02 |
| 1993 | 45 | #1,846 | 0.02 |
| 1992 | 42 | #1,916 | 0.02 |
| 1991 | 79 | #1,250 | 0.04 |
| 1990 | 75 | #1,273 | 0.04 |
| 1989 | 105 | #994 | 0.05 |
| 1988 | 132 | #822 | 0.07 |
| 1987 | 140 | #777 | 0.07 |
| 1986 | 143 | #756 | 0.08 |
| 1985 | 155 | #710 | 0.08 |
| 1984 | 141 | #733 | 0.08 |
| 1983 | 187 | #624 | 0.10 |
| 1982 | 189 | #632 | 0.10 |
| 1981 | 162 | #679 | 0.09 |
| 1980 | 177 | #652 | 0.10 |
| 1979 | 160 | #675 | 0.09 |
| 1978 | 144 | #698 | 0.09 |
| 1977 | 163 | #661 | 0.10 |
| 1976 | 154 | #661 | 0.10 |
| 1975 | 182 | #601 | 0.12 |
| 1974 | 176 | #603 | 0.11 |
| 1973 | 170 | #608 | 0.11 |
| 1972 | 179 | #597 | 0.11 |
| 1971 | 162 | #646 | 0.09 |
| 1970 | 143 | #692 | 0.08 |
| 1969 | 143 | #659 | 0.08 |
| 1968 | 118 | #696 | 0.07 |
| 1967 | 98 | #744 | 0.06 |
| 1966 | 88 | #774 | 0.05 |
| 1965 | 60 | #948 | 0.03 |
| 1964 | 49 | #1,084 | 0.02 |
| 1963 | 53 | #1,036 | 0.03 |
| 1962 | 43 | #1,187 | 0.02 |
| 1961 | 30 | #1,467 | 0.01 |
| 1960 | 23 | #1,694 | 0.01 |
| 1959 | 26 | #1,560 | 0.01 |
| 1958 | 20 | #1,771 | 0.01 |
| 1957 | 17 | #1,959 | 0.01 |
| 1956 | 9 | #2,813 | under 0.01 |
| 1955 | 5 | #3,938 | under 0.01 |
| 1950 | 5 | #3,746 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Brain a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Brain has been given almost only to boys: 10 girls in 62 years of records.
Girls and boys named Brain: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Brain, and how old are they?
4,180 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 91% of the 4,606 Americans ever recorded as Brain. The median Brain alive today is 47 years old; half are between 40 and 54.
The 2020 Census counted 4,359 people named Brain (18 women and girls, 4,341 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 4,296 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 213 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 2,070 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,600 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 287 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 18 |
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 Brain born?
The states with the most babies named Brain are California, New York and Illinois, with 44% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 546 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| New York | 303 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Illinois | 270 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Texas | 196 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Michigan | 179 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Florida | 161 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Pennsylvania | 145 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Ohio | 130 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Louisiana | 107 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| New Jersey | 69 | not ranked | 0.5× |
Where Brain is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Brain is most over-represented in Illinois: since 1950 it was given 1.1 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 Brain 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 22,784 babies since 1880, Brain is the second most given (20% of them). In 2025 none of their 367 babies recorded by SSA was a Brain (SSA lists a name only with 5 or more babies of one sex).
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 Brain
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
| Name | Recorded | 1950-2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Chirstopher | 1,051 | |
| Chistopher | 1,446 | |
| Tadd | 1,457 |
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 Brain and names like it
- Compare Brain and BrayanBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1980sBrain peaked in 1982.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Brain since 1910.
- The top names of 1982The year the most babies were named Brain.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Brain alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with BMost given first.