Humanverse

Brandon vs Braya

American parents have registered 774,654 Brandons since 1880, against 601 Brayas. Brandon is still ahead, with 1,326 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Brandon Braya

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 2021, when Brandon had 2,135 and Braya had 40.

Side by side

  Brandon Braya
Total US births 774,654601
Most in one year 29,72442
Babies in 2025 1,32623
Estimated living today 742,000600
Median age today 329
Peak year 19922019
Best rank 6th boys3,611th girls
Rank in 2025 261st5,410th
First recorded 19141992
Girls / boys 4,145 / 770,509601 / 0

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 Brayas are over 9. That is 23 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: Brandon and Braya.