Brennan
Brennan was given to 226 boys in 2025, #1,003 among boys’ names; 35,487 Americans have been recorded with it since 1916 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 34,600 Americans named Brennan and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (97% of everyone recorded); the median is 23 years old and half are between 16 and 30.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Brennan by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Brennan mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Brennan is “a male given name transferred from the surname, of mostly American usage.” Its etymology gives the senses “descendant of Braonán” (Braonáin) and “moisture, drop” (braon).
Also “a male given name, variant of Brendan.”
From Irish Ó Braonáin (“descendant of Braonán”), a diminutive of braon (“moisture, drop”). Alternatively, from Irish Ó Branáin (“descendant of Branán”), a diminutive of bran (“raven”).
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Brennan?
#1,003 among boys’ names, 2025
Brennan fell from #444 in 2015 to #1,003 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 0.36 to 0.13 per 1,000.
1,550 babies in 2009, the peak
Brennan peaked in 2009, when 1,550 babies were given it (1,464 boys, #242 among boys’ names). The 236 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 15% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 226 | #1,003 | 0.13 |
| 2024 | 207 | #1,057 | 0.12 |
| 2023 | 213 | #1,025 | 0.12 |
| 2022 | 224 | #995 | 0.13 |
| 2021 | 265 | #872 | 0.15 |
| 2020 | 315 | #764 | 0.18 |
| 2019 | 340 | #719 | 0.19 |
| 2018 | 382 | #661 | 0.21 |
| 2017 | 464 | #585 | 0.25 |
| 2016 | 549 | #534 | 0.29 |
Every recorded year (77)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 690 | #444 | 0.36 |
| 2014 | 806 | #387 | 0.42 |
| 2013 | 927 | #345 | 0.49 |
| 2012 | 1,011 | #318 | 0.53 |
| 2011 | 1,177 | #293 | 0.62 |
| 2010 | 1,279 | #270 | 0.67 |
| 2009 | 1,464 | #242 | 0.74 |
| 2008 | 1,316 | #263 | 0.65 |
| 2007 | 1,207 | #286 | 0.58 |
| 2006 | 1,116 | #299 | 0.54 |
| 2005 | 1,054 | #312 | 0.53 |
| 2004 | 1,061 | #300 | 0.53 |
| 2003 | 1,127 | #276 | 0.57 |
| 2002 | 1,121 | #273 | 0.58 |
| 2001 | 1,121 | #274 | 0.58 |
| 2000 | 1,158 | #276 | 0.59 |
| 1999 | 1,106 | #270 | 0.58 |
| 1998 | 1,051 | #274 | 0.55 |
| 1997 | 967 | #288 | 0.51 |
| 1996 | 895 | #297 | 0.47 |
| 1995 | 916 | #288 | 0.48 |
| 1994 | 756 | #329 | 0.39 |
| 1993 | 663 | #356 | 0.34 |
| 1992 | 642 | #368 | 0.32 |
| 1991 | 698 | #346 | 0.35 |
| 1990 | 606 | #383 | 0.30 |
| 1989 | 445 | #446 | 0.22 |
| 1988 | 460 | #422 | 0.24 |
| 1987 | 422 | #428 | 0.23 |
| 1986 | 292 | #520 | 0.16 |
| 1985 | 253 | #553 | 0.14 |
| 1984 | 232 | #562 | 0.13 |
| 1983 | 182 | #634 | 0.10 |
| 1982 | 152 | #706 | 0.08 |
| 1981 | 139 | #735 | 0.08 |
| 1980 | 142 | #737 | 0.08 |
| 1979 | 136 | #741 | 0.08 |
| 1978 | 123 | #760 | 0.07 |
| 1977 | 108 | #819 | 0.07 |
| 1976 | 99 | #838 | 0.06 |
| 1975 | 102 | #823 | 0.07 |
| 1974 | 89 | #850 | 0.06 |
| 1973 | 69 | #972 | 0.04 |
| 1972 | 57 | #1,069 | 0.04 |
| 1971 | 78 | #921 | 0.04 |
| 1970 | 73 | #932 | 0.04 |
| 1969 | 66 | #945 | 0.04 |
| 1968 | 58 | #958 | 0.03 |
| 1967 | 53 | #994 | 0.03 |
| 1966 | 53 | #999 | 0.03 |
| 1965 | 36 | #1,276 | 0.02 |
| 1964 | 30 | #1,435 | 0.02 |
| 1963 | 32 | #1,376 | 0.02 |
| 1962 | 24 | #1,627 | 0.01 |
| 1961 | 25 | #1,604 | 0.01 |
| 1960 | 17 | #1,977 | 0.01 |
| 1959 | 11 | #2,549 | 0.01 |
| 1958 | 14 | #2,184 | 0.01 |
| 1957 | 9 | #2,843 | under 0.01 |
| 1956 | 11 | #2,513 | 0.01 |
| 1955 | 10 | #2,587 | under 0.01 |
| 1954 | 8 | #2,974 | under 0.01 |
| 1953 | 6 | #3,467 | under 0.01 |
| 1951 | 5 | #3,775 | under 0.01 |
| 1950 | 6 | #3,362 | under 0.01 |
| 1949 | 6 | #3,347 | under 0.01 |
| 1916 | 5 | #3,970 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Brennan a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 35,487 Americans recorded as Brennan, 6% are girls and 94% boys. In 2025 it went to 10 girls and 226 boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Brennan: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Brennan, and how old are they?
34,600 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 97% of the 35,487 Americans ever recorded as Brennan. The median Brennan alive today is 23 years old; half are between 16 and 30.
The 2020 Census counted 31,223 people named Brennan (1,951 women and girls, 29,272 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 33,340 born in the U.S. The Census count is 6% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 157 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,290 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 8,030 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 19,100 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 6,000 |
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 Brennan born?
The states with the most babies named Brennan are Texas, North Carolina and Virginia, with 27% of its births recorded by state in 2025; Virginia is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 18 | #1,174 | 0.7× |
| North Carolina | 14 | #650 | 0.8× |
| Virginia | 13 | #566 | 1.0× |
| California | 12 | #1,453 | 0.6× |
| Pennsylvania | 12 | #708 | 1.0× |
| New York | 11 | #1,064 | 0.6× |
| Florida | 11 | #1,134 | 0.7× |
| Illinois | 10 | #812 | 0.8× |
| Tennessee | 10 | #678 | 1.1× |
| Louisiana | 8 | #537 | 3.2× |
Where Brennan is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Brennan is most over-represented in Louisiana: since 1916 it was given 3.2 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 Brennan 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 50,950 babies since 1880, Brennan is the most given (70% of them). In 2025 it was given to 236 of their 272 babies (87%), 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 Brennan
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 Brennan and names like it
- Compare Brennan and BrennenBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2000sBrennan peaked in 2009.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Brennan since 1910.
- From surnamesWiktionary’s origin for Brennan: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2009The year the most babies were named Brennan.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Brennan alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with BMost given first.