Names/B

Brendan

boys’ nameFallingCompare

Brendan is outside the top 1,000 in 2024, with 221 births. Its best rank was 96th, in 1999.

Rank in 2024
outside the top 1,000
Births in 2024
2210.01% of boys
Peak year
19993,994 births
Best rank
#96in 1999
Since 1912
91,612people given the name
Babies named Brendan, by year of birthboys
01.3k2.5k3.8k5k18801900192019401960198020002020

The story in the numbers

91,612 boys have been named Brendan in the United States since 1912, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1999, with 3,994 births — 0.21% of all boys recorded that year.

It is falling: its share of births is 60% or less of what it was ten years ago.

Half of everyone given the name was born by 1997, and the 1990s alone account for 31%. It has spent 81 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 2 of them in the top 100.

Rank among boys, year by year

Higher on the chart = more popularrank (gaps = outside the top 1,000)
#1#250#500#750#100018801900192019401960198020002020

By decade

Decadeboys named Brendan
1910s85
1920s165
1930s289
1940s444
1950s984
1960s3,437
1970s6,931
1980s14,601
1990s28,511
2000s25,836
2010s8,907
2020s1,422

In 1999, its biggest year

Brendan was the 96th most given boy’s name that year. The top five boys’ names of 1999 were Jacob, Michael, Matthew, Joshua and Nicholas. See all of 1999.

Names that rose and fell with Brendan

Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.

What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.