Bradd
Masculine
Bradd doubles the final letter of a familiar form that several surnames produce, and the doubling cannot be heard. The same four letters spell an ordinary tool-shop word for a particular kind of nail.
How old is the name Bradd?
Bradd first appears in US birth records in 1947 — 78 years ago. The typical Bradd alive today was born around 1969, making them about 56 years old. About 600 people named Bradd are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Bradd most popular?
Bradd peaked in 1965, reaching #1559 nationally. See the whole 1965 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Bradd
A brad is a small nail with almost no head, driven below the surface so that the hole can be filled and the fixing disappears. The word came into English from Norse, where it meant a spike or a goad, and it has been in use for carpentry since the Middle Ages; a brad awl is the tool for making the pilot hole, and a brad point drill has a spur at the center for the same reason. The modern brad nailer fires them from a strip. It is one of the small trade words that has stayed exactly where it was for eight hundred years while everything around it changed, because the thing it names has not needed to.
Meaningnot established
Not established
It shortens one of the broad- surnames — a broad wood, a broad ford, a broad clearing — and which one is not recorded. The doubled letter is an American respelling device with no source in any of them.
Pronouncing Bradd
BRAD
One syllable. The doubled d does nothing: English doubles a consonant to keep a vowel short, and this vowel is short already.
Nicknames for Bradd
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1947
- Most boys named
- 197627 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1559reached in 1965
- Change vs 2004
- +20.0%6 in 2009, from 5
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Bradds among us
people named Bradd are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Bradd sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- One syllable is quick, clear and hard to mishear across a room.
- It is understood instantly and needs no introduction anywhere.
- Any of several formal names can stand behind it if one is wanted.
- Brad is the standard spelling and this will be corrected constantly.
- The doubled letter is inaudible, so the spelling must be given aloud every time.
- It reads as a short form even when it is the registered name.
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Bradd
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Bradds are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Bradd are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Bradd in 2025?
- Bradd is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Bradd with classmates?
- Bradd will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More B names
The most-given names starting with B, all years combined.
Brian#339 · Benjamin#11 · Brandon#261 · Bryan#336 · Bruce#536 · Billy#1068 · Bobby#1097 · Bradley#403
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Bradd? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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