Braedon
Masculine · “descendant of Bradan”
Braden means salmon. The Irish surname behind it is O Bradain, and bradan is the fish; in Irish tradition the salmon is the creature that holds all knowledge, and eating one is how Fionn mac Cumhaill got his wisdom.
How old is the name Braedon?
Braedon first appears in US birth records in 1984 — 41 years ago. The typical Braedon alive today was born around 2005, making them about 20 years old. About 3,900 people named Braedon are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Braedon most popular?
Braedon peaked in 2004, reaching #713 nationally. Today it ranks #6803, 6,090 places below that high. See the whole 2004 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From bradan to Braedon
The story of Braedon
The salmon of knowledge lived in a pool under nine hazel trees and had eaten the nuts that fell from them; a poet caught it after seven years of trying, and his young servant Fionn burned his thumb on it, sucked the thumb, and got the wisdom instead. The story is one of the best known in the Fenian cycle. The surname O Bradain has nothing so dramatic behind it; a bradan was a byname for someone, and the family took it. Braden entered American given names in the 1990s, riding the -aden rhyme family, and Braedon adds the ae digraph on top; its best year is 2004.
Meaning
descendant of Bradan, from the word for a salmon
Irish bradan, a salmon, gives the personal name Bradan and the surname O Bradain, anglicized as Bradan, Braden and Bradon. The salmon of knowledge is a standing figure in Irish and Welsh literature. The ae digraph and the -on ending of this modern spelling are English additions and carry no meaning.
How the name formed
- bradan
- O Bradain
- Braden
- Braedon
Related forms: O Bradain · Braden · Braydon
Pronouncing Braedon
BRAY-dun
Two syllables with the stress at the front and the second reduced. The ae is a long a, not the ee of a Latin word; Braden and Braedon are identical aloud.
Nicknames for Braedon
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
- 1984
- Most boys named
- 2006284 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #713reached in 2004
- Change vs 2024
- +33.3%12 in 2025, from 9
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.
Braedon in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- O Bradain in Irish — related form
- Braden in English — spelling variant
- Braydon in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California.
Braedons among us
people named Braedon are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 142,340 born in 2025 was named Braedon
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Wardell test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Braedon's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Wardell climbed just as high around 1909, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Wardell's path sketches the road Braedon is walking now.
Braedon sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Braedon beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Braedon in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A genuine Irish surname with a concrete meaning and a famous story behind the word.
- Bray and Brae are both usable short forms.
- The br- opening is completely at home in current American naming.
- Braden, Brayden and Braedon all share the sound and split the records.
- The ae digraph invites a first-attempt BRY-dun from readers who know Latin.
- The -aden family is closely dated to the 1990s and 2000s.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Braedon to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Braedon? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Braedon
Masculine · #6803 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Braedons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,900 people named Braedon are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Braedon in 2025?
- Braedon ranks #6803 among US boy names in 2025, with 12 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Braedon?
- About 1 in every 142,340 US boys born in 2025 was named Braedon — 12 in all.
- Will my child share the name Braedon with classmates?
- Braedon will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Braedon
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Zeb#6803 · Buster#6803 · Fabien#6803 · Eston#6803 · Tyjuan#6803 · Fuad#6803 · Aaiden#6803 · Sanford#6803
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Braedon? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Braedon and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle