Humanverse

Bradshaw vs Brandon

American parents have registered 774,654 Brandons since 1880, against 68 Bradshaws. Brandon is still ahead, with 1,326 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Bradshaw against Brandon, 1880 to 2025 0 8k 16k 24k 32k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Bradshaw Brandon

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

Brandon has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1914 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1951, when Bradshaw had 7 and Brandon had 50.

Side by side

  Bradshaw Brandon
Total US births 68774,654
Most in one year 1029,724
Babies in 2025 under 51,326
Estimated living today 60742,000
Median age today 2932
Peak year 20071992
Best rank 7,590th boys6th boys
Rank in 2025 unranked261st
First recorded 19511914
Girls / boys 0 / 684,145 / 770,509

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 Brandons alive today are over 32; half the Bradshaws are over 29. That is 3 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: Bradshaw and Brandon.