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Breanna vs Brenan

American parents have registered 82,440 Breannas since 1880, against 833 Brenans. Breanna is still ahead, with 69 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Breanna against Brenan, 1880 to 2025 0 1.3k 2.5k 3.8k 5k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Breanna Brenan

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

Breanna has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1965 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1972, when Breanna had 7 and Brenan had 6.

Side by side

  Breanna Brenan
Total US births 82,440833
Most in one year 4,70142
Babies in 2025 69under 5
Estimated living today 81,000810
Median age today 2725
Peak year 19962009
Best rank 74th girls2,847th boys
Rank in 2025 2,542ndunranked
First recorded 19651972
Girls / boys 82,375 / 650 / 833

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 Breannas alive today are over 27; half the Brenans are over 25. That is 2 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: Breanna and Brenan.