Name Awesome

Bran

Boys' name

Multiple documented origins; meaning depends on tradition

Bran has been given to 232 babies in the U.S. since 1970. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 2021, with 14 recorded.

Babies named Bran, 2024

1 in 557,000

Bran over time, 1880–2025

Boys
05101518801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Bran: meaning, origin, and history

Multiple documented origins; meaning depends on tradition

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Bran means

Bran has more than one naming route in the cited origin entries: distinct naming traditions.

The naming story behind Bran

One of the source’s documented entries for Bran records a meaning of raven.

A separate documented entry treats Bran as a variant of Brân. That is a personal-name relationship, which differs from translating the letters of the modern spelling into one universal English word. The linked origin entry identifies the context of this relationship.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 232 boys were recorded with the name Bran between 1970 and 2024. Its highest annual count was 14 in 2021; its best national rank was #3,005 in 1972.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

How common is Bran?

Bran had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2024, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2024
1 in 557,000
6 of 3,342,801 births
Among boys only
1 in 287,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2024
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
386,177 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Bran sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2024 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 386,177 children born in 2024 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Bran. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Brans were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Bran was born before 2011 — so the typical Bran is around 14 today.

Median birth year
2011
About 14 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
40.1% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
63.8%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
232
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 40.1% of all recorded uses (93).

Is Bran rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
—
Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago
New entry
Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
0%
Peak was 2021 (14)
Years since peak
4
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
32.1% average annual change
Best rank ever
#3,005
1972

Spellings of Bran

Bran is not the most common spelling — Brian is, with 16.1% against Bran's <0.01%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Bran around the world

Where Bran ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    2001–2025
    #4,275
    in 2025
  • France
    1989–2020
    #7,012
    in 2020
  • South Australia
    2002–2002
    #606
    in 2002

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Bran by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#3,005
1972
Peak year
2021
14 that year
First recorded
1970
Last recorded
2024
All-time count
232
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Bran

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

BraeBraxBrahmBrayBraunBrazenBraveBrayamFranBramBrahimBrazosBraxonAaranBaranBraynArranBrandEranOmranBraxleyBraxenDeranBraeson

Sibling names for Bran

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Bran

Top names of 2021, Bran's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 1972Boys' names starting with BBird NamesWelsh Mythology Names