Branson
Branson was given to 165 boys in 2025, #1,222 among boys’ names; 8,231 Americans have been recorded with it since 1912 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 7,930 Americans named Branson and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (96% of everyone recorded); the median is 14 years old and half are between 9 and 23.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Branson by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Branson mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Branson is “a male given name transferred from the surname.”
/ˈbɹænsən/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Branson?
#1,222 among boys’ names, 2025
Branson fell from #694 in 2015 to #1,222 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 0.19 to 0.10 per 1,000.
377 babies in 2014, the peak
Branson peaked in 2014, when 377 boys were given it, #675 among boys’ names. The 165 births of 2025 are 44% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 165 | #1,222 | 0.10 |
| 2024 | 196 | #1,099 | 0.11 |
| 2023 | 197 | #1,089 | 0.12 |
| 2022 | 222 | #1,002 | 0.13 |
| 2021 | 244 | #927 | 0.14 |
| 2020 | 258 | #875 | 0.15 |
| 2019 | 281 | #811 | 0.16 |
| 2018 | 302 | #770 | 0.17 |
| 2017 | 332 | #723 | 0.18 |
| 2016 | 368 | #682 | 0.19 |
Every recorded year (95)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 363 | #694 | 0.19 |
| 2014 | 377 | #675 | 0.20 |
| 2013 | 355 | #679 | 0.19 |
| 2012 | 343 | #691 | 0.18 |
| 2011 | 310 | #732 | 0.16 |
| 2010 | 248 | #854 | 0.13 |
| 2009 | 273 | #812 | 0.14 |
| 2008 | 244 | #871 | 0.12 |
| 2007 | 217 | #912 | 0.10 |
| 2006 | 227 | #873 | 0.11 |
| 2005 | 180 | #966 | 0.09 |
| 2004 | 177 | #948 | 0.09 |
| 2003 | 155 | #1,016 | 0.08 |
| 2002 | 151 | #1,018 | 0.08 |
| 2001 | 151 | #1,003 | 0.08 |
| 2000 | 152 | #977 | 0.08 |
| 1999 | 157 | #930 | 0.08 |
| 1998 | 151 | #932 | 0.08 |
| 1997 | 159 | #871 | 0.08 |
| 1996 | 125 | #997 | 0.07 |
| 1995 | 126 | #985 | 0.07 |
| 1994 | 99 | #1,138 | 0.05 |
| 1993 | 91 | #1,164 | 0.05 |
| 1992 | 45 | #1,816 | 0.02 |
| 1991 | 42 | #1,865 | 0.02 |
| 1990 | 36 | #2,045 | 0.02 |
| 1989 | 42 | #1,793 | 0.02 |
| 1988 | 31 | #2,035 | 0.02 |
| 1987 | 32 | #1,935 | 0.02 |
| 1986 | 27 | #2,100 | 0.01 |
| 1985 | 33 | #1,798 | 0.02 |
| 1984 | 34 | #1,696 | 0.02 |
| 1983 | 26 | #2,021 | 0.01 |
| 1982 | 29 | #1,894 | 0.02 |
| 1981 | 32 | #1,770 | 0.02 |
| 1980 | 20 | #2,456 | 0.01 |
| 1979 | 33 | #1,713 | 0.02 |
| 1978 | 18 | #2,484 | 0.01 |
| 1977 | 17 | #2,567 | 0.01 |
| 1976 | 16 | #2,616 | 0.01 |
| 1975 | 10 | #3,461 | 0.01 |
| 1974 | 12 | #2,968 | 0.01 |
| 1972 | 6 | #4,496 | under 0.01 |
| 1971 | 13 | #2,690 | 0.01 |
| 1970 | 7 | #3,884 | under 0.01 |
| 1968 | 8 | #3,130 | under 0.01 |
| 1965 | 6 | #3,583 | under 0.01 |
| 1964 | 7 | #3,315 | under 0.01 |
| 1963 | 5 | #4,103 | under 0.01 |
| 1962 | 7 | #3,341 | under 0.01 |
| 1961 | 5 | #4,133 | under 0.01 |
| 1960 | 8 | #3,117 | under 0.01 |
| 1958 | 7 | #3,301 | under 0.01 |
| 1957 | 6 | #3,604 | under 0.01 |
| 1955 | 7 | #3,228 | under 0.01 |
| 1953 | 9 | #2,726 | under 0.01 |
| 1952 | 5 | #3,800 | under 0.01 |
| 1951 | 5 | #3,773 | under 0.01 |
| 1950 | 9 | #2,601 | 0.01 |
| 1949 | 6 | #3,346 | under 0.01 |
| 1948 | 6 | #3,355 | under 0.01 |
| 1947 | 6 | #3,409 | under 0.01 |
| 1946 | 5 | #3,580 | under 0.01 |
| 1945 | 5 | #3,384 | under 0.01 |
| 1944 | 8 | #2,655 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 5 | #3,504 | under 0.01 |
| 1939 | 6 | #3,149 | 0.01 |
| 1937 | 5 | #3,582 | under 0.01 |
| 1935 | 5 | #3,707 | under 0.01 |
| 1933 | 9 | #2,562 | 0.01 |
| 1932 | 8 | #2,873 | 0.01 |
| 1931 | 6 | #3,429 | 0.01 |
| 1930 | 5 | #4,060 | under 0.01 |
| 1929 | 6 | #3,599 | 0.01 |
| 1927 | 10 | #2,717 | 0.01 |
| 1926 | 8 | #3,159 | 0.01 |
| 1925 | 7 | #3,453 | 0.01 |
| 1923 | 7 | #3,511 | 0.01 |
| 1921 | 9 | #3,007 | 0.01 |
| 1920 | 7 | #3,523 | 0.01 |
| 1919 | 5 | #4,223 | 0.01 |
| 1918 | 8 | #3,136 | 0.01 |
| 1915 | 9 | #2,650 | 0.01 |
| 1914 | 7 | #2,680 | 0.01 |
| 1912 | 7 | #2,071 | 0.02 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Branson a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Branson has been given almost only to boys: 5 girls in 95 years of records.
Girls and boys named Branson: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Branson, and how old are they?
7,930 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 96% of the 8,231 Americans ever recorded as Branson. The median Branson alive today is 14 years old; half are between 9 and 23.
The 2020 Census counted 6,068 people named Branson (41 women and girls, 6,027 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 6,769 born in the U.S. The Census count is 10% 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 | 12 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 68 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 150 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 813 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 3,250 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 3,630 |
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 Branson born?
The states with the most babies named Branson are Texas, Indiana and Kentucky, with 35% of its births recorded by state in 2025; Indiana and Kentucky are not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 20 | #1,102 | 1.1× |
| Indiana | 10 | #626 | 1.8× |
| Kentucky | 9 | #486 | 2.1× |
| Alabama | 9 | #530 | 1.5× |
| Tennessee | 8 | #786 | 2.0× |
| Georgia | 8 | #1,005 | 1.3× |
| Florida | 8 | #1,370 | 0.6× |
| Mississippi | 8 | #374 | 1.9× |
| Ohio | 7 | #1,029 | 1.5× |
| Louisiana | 7 | #594 | 2.4× |
Where Branson is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Branson is most over-represented in Louisiana: since 1912 it was given 2.4 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 Branson 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 3 names spelled alike, given to 9,489 babies since 1880, Branson is the most given (87% of them). In 2025 it was given to 165 of their 194 babies (85%), 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 Branson
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 Branson and names like it
- Compare Branson and BransenBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2010sBranson peaked in 2014.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Branson since 1910.
- From surnamesWiktionary’s origin for Branson: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2014The year the most babies were named Branson.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Branson alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with BMost given first.