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Bradley vs Braylyn

American parents have registered 314,957 Bradleys since 1880, against 1,314 Braylyns. Bradley is still ahead, with 830 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Bradley against Braylyn, 1880 to 2025 0 2k 4k 6k 8k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Bradley Braylyn

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Bradley has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2020, when Bradley had 1,283 and Braylyn had 63.

Side by side

  Bradley Braylyn
Total US births 314,9571,314
Most in one year 7,26291
Babies in 2025 83036
Estimated living today 279,0001,300
Median age today 4212
Peak year 19802009
Best rank 51st boys3,161st girls
Rank in 2025 403rd5,917th
First recorded 18801995
Girls / boys 1,949 / 313,008744 / 570

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Bradleys alive today are over 42; half the Braylyns are over 12. That is 30 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Bradley and Braylyn.