Head to head · Boys' names
Brody vs Dallas
#236 vs #238 in 2025
Brody is a whisker ahead (#236 vs #238 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Brody is stepping back from its peak, Dallas is holding its place on the charts. On momentum, Dallas has the edge.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Brody leads 4 measures of 6; Dallas leads 2.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Brody —, Dallas #363 — Dallas higher
- 1890s: Brody —, Dallas #335 — Dallas higher
- 1900s: Brody —, Dallas #321 — Dallas higher
- 1910s: Brody —, Dallas #338 — Dallas higher
- 1920s: Brody —, Dallas #292 — Dallas higher
- 1930s: Brody —, Dallas #264 — Dallas higher
- 1940s: Brody —, Dallas #297 — Dallas higher
- 1950s: Brody #3360, Dallas #363 — Dallas higher
- 1960s: Brody #3529, Dallas #436 — Dallas higher
- 1970s: Brody #1190, Dallas #421 — Dallas higher
- 1980s: Brody #863, Dallas #346 — Dallas higher
- 1990s: Brody #484, Dallas #279 — Dallas higher
- 2000s: Brody #198, Dallas #343 — Brody higher
- 2010s: Brody #117, Dallas #292 — Brody higher
- 2020s: Brody #206, Dallas #254 — Brody higher
Dallas stood higher in 12 of 15 decades; Brody has held the lead since the 2000s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Brody | Dallas |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | — | #363 |
| 1890s | — | #335 |
| 1900s | — | #321 |
| 1910s | — | #338 |
| 1920s | — | #292 |
| 1930s | — | #264 |
| 1940s | — | #297 |
| 1950s | #3360 | #363 |
| 1960s | #3529 | #436 |
| 1970s | #1190 | #421 |
| 1980s | #863 | #346 |
| 1990s | #484 | #279 |
| 2000s | #198 | #343 |
| 2010s | #117 | #292 |
| 2020s | #206 | #254 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Brody
- England & Wales#99
Dallas
Not charting outside the US.
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Brody
From the Scottish place and surname Brodie; the place name itself is disputed
Two readings compete. One takes it from Gaelic roots meaning something like muddy place or ditch — unglamorous, but that is how a great many place names work. The other treats it as Pictish, from the older layer of language in northeast Scotland that we can only partly read. Neither has won, and the name is older than the argument.
Brodie (estate in Moray, Scotland) → Brodie (Scottish surname) → Brodie (given name) → Brody
How it traveled
The starting point is the estate of Brodie in Moray, in the northeast of Scotland, held by the family of the same name since the medieval period; Brodie Castle was built there in the sixteenth century. As with Ramsay, Lindsay and dozens of others, the land named the family, and the family name outlasted the connection to the land.
Dallas
most likely 'meadow dwelling' or 'meadow by the waterfall'
The Scottish place name behind it is read two ways. One reading takes it from Brythonic or Pictish elements meaning roughly 'meadow' and 'dwelling'; the other from Gaelic dail ('meadow, haugh') with eas ('waterfall'). Both point at low green ground beside water, which is why the two readings sit together comfortably rather than canceling each other out.
Dallas (lands in Moray, Scotland) → Dolays (medieval Scottish surname) → Dallas (Scottish surname) → Dallas (given name)
How it traveled
The lands of Dallas lie in Moray, and by the medieval period a family had taken their name from them, appearing in Scottish records in forms such as Dolays before settling into the modern spelling. Emigration carried the surname to North America, where — as happened to Scottish surnames generally — it began to be handed out as a first name.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Brody
BROH-dee
Stress on the first syllable, long o. No regional variation to speak of in English.
- Brode — Informal clipping, mostly among friends and teammates rather than family.
- B — Initial-only, common in casual American usage for short names that resist further shortening.
Dallas
DAL-us
Stress on the first syllable. The second is an unstressed 'us' or 'is' depending on region; both are ordinary and neither needs correcting.
- Dal — The usual clipped form, informal and mostly spoken rather than written.
- Dally — An affectionate family form, used more with small children than with adults.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Brody if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsBrody is stepping back from its peak
- a name that charts abroad tooBrody is on the national lists of England & Wales
- a newer arrivalBrody entered the US charts in 1954
- a name that feels very nowBrody is stepping back from its peak
Choose Dallas if you want…
- a name on the way upup 31 places on the charts in five years
- a long American recordDallas was already in use when US records began in 1880
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 25% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 71% for Brody
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Brody
Strengths
- Two syllables, entirely phonetic — a stranger reading it aloud will get it right the first time.
- Charts in England and Wales as well as the United States, so it crosses the Atlantic without translation.
- Short enough not to need a nickname, which spares the child the negotiation many longer names require.
To consider
- Brody and Brodie are both in genuine use, so expect a lifetime of spelling it out. Neither version is wrong, which is precisely what makes the confusion permanent.
- It sits in a crowded sound-family — Cody, Brady, Grady, Bradley — and gets misheard among them, especially over the phone.
- Its rise and gentle step back mean it reads as a name of a particular recent generation rather than a classic. That fades: a name shared with people now in their teens will simply be a name shared with adults soon enough.
Dallas
Strengths
- Unbroken presence in American records since the earliest years of national name statistics — long familiarity, without ever having been a crowd.
- A spelling nobody has to be told twice: the city has taught it to every English speaker.
- Given to both boys and girls, so the name itself needs no adjustment either way.
To consider
- The place association is unavoidable. Most people will think of the Texas city, the football team, or the television series that ran from the late 1970s into the early 1990s, and some will hear the city's link to the Kennedy assassination.
- Strongest in Texas, Georgia and California — inside Texas especially, the name and the city are hard to separate, which may read as local pride or as a lot to carry.
- It leans boy in the records. A girl named Dallas is in a real but smaller group, and may occasionally be assumed a boy on paper before she is met in person.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Brody
71%chance Brody feels dated by 2040
Brody is coming down from a big peak (#70 in 2008). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
Dallas
25%chance Dallas feels dated by 2040
Dallas peaked long ago yet still holds steady — names that survive their own wave usually settle into quiet, durable classics.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Brody and Dallas in full.
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Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
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More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
- Y2K names: the class of the 2000s
- Names ending in -y
- Southern charm: names the South loves best
- Names with a double letter
- all guides
Where Brody and Dallas each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Brody or Dallas — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Brody or Dallas?
- Brody, in 2025: Brody ranked #236 with 1,492 babies; Dallas ranked #238 with 1,475 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Brody or Dallas?
- Dallas. Over the last five years Brody moved down 58 places; Dallas moved up 31 places.
- Which is the older name, Brody or Dallas?
- Brody entered the US charts in 1954; Dallas was already in use when US records began in 1880. On the American record, Dallas is the older name.
- How many people are named Brody and Dallas?
- About 80,500 people named Brody are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 56,000 people named Dallas are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Brodys or Dallass in the classroom?
- Brody will almost certainly be the only one in school. Dallas will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
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