Braiden
Masculine · “descendant of the salmon”
Braiden is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 7,637 boys against 152 girls since 1880.
Braiden is a respelling of Braden, and Braden is a salmon. The Irish surname Ó Bradáin means descendant of the salmon, which sounds odd until you remember that in Irish tradition the salmon is the animal that carries knowledge.
How old is the name Braiden?
Braiden first appears in US birth records in 1984 — 41 years ago. The typical Braiden alive today was born around 2009, making them about 16 years old. About 7,500 people named Braiden are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Braiden most popular?
Braiden peaked in 2010, reaching #468 nationally. Today it ranks #2833, 2,365 places below that high. See the whole 2010 chart.
Where it comes from
From bradán to Braiden
The story of Braiden
Ó Bradáin was anglicized as Bradon, Braden and Bradden, and the surname reached America with Irish emigration. It became a first name in the twentieth century and then, briefly and enormously, a template: Braden gave Brayden, Braiden, Braeden and Braydon, and the Brae- and Bray- syllable went on to make Braylon, Brayleigh and a dozen others. Braiden is one of the earlier respellings in that sequence, and the ai in the middle does the same job every respelling in the group does — it changes the look and nothing else.
Meaning
descendant of the salmon
Irish bradan means a salmon, and Ó Bradáin was a surname built on it as a personal byname. The reading is documented. In Irish story the salmon of knowledge is a fish that has eaten the hazelnuts of wisdom, and whoever eats it gains what it knows — which gives the name a good deal more behind it than a fish.
How the name formed
- bradán
- Ó Bradáin
- Braden
- Braiden
Related forms: Ó Bradáin · Braden · Brayden
Pronouncing Braiden
BRAY-den
Two syllables, stress on the first, the second reduced. Said exactly as Braden and Brayden; the ai changes the spelling and nothing you can hear.
Nicknames for Braiden
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
- 2009563 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #468reached in 2010
- Change vs 2024
- −24.1%44 in 2025, from 58
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.
Braiden in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ó Bradáin in Irish — related form
- Braden in English — spelling variant
- Brayden in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Florida, California.
Braidens among us
people named Braiden are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 38,820 born in 2025 was named Braiden
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Braiden
- #2833
- Braiden on the 2025 chart
- #228
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Braiden went to 44 boys in 2025, but Brayden is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 1,589, which makes it the 228th most-given boys’ name of the year — 2,605 places above the chart.
- Brayden1,545
- Braiden44
About 1 boy in 1,075 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 38,820 for Braiden itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Bernie test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Braiden's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Bernie climbed just as high around 1937, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Bernie's path sketches the road Braiden is walking now.
Braiden 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
Where Braiden is headed
Braiden is easing off slowly — about 30% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Braiden beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Braiden in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A documented Irish surname with a genuinely good story underneath it.
- Brae and Bray are both natural short forms and Bray is a name of its own.
- Two syllables that every English speaker says correctly at first sight.
- Braden, Brayden, Braiden, Braeden and Braydon are five live spellings and none is standard.
- The spelling will be given letter by letter for the child's whole life.
- It is very closely tied to one stretch of American naming, which will be audible later.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Braiden
Masculine · #2833 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Braidens are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 7,500 people named Braiden are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Braiden?
- Braiden is one of 2 recorded spellings. Brayden is the more common one — 1,545 births in 2025 against 44 for Braiden.
- How popular is the name Braiden in 2025?
- Braiden ranks #2833 among US boy names in 2025, with 44 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Braiden?
- About 1 in every 38,820 US boys born in 2025 was named Braiden — 44 in all.
- Will my child share the name Braiden with classmates?
- Braiden will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Braiden
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Bayron#2833 · Odysseus#2833 · Mahlon#2833 · Ward#2833 · Jarvis#2833 · Abriel#2833 · Alain#2833 · Josef#2833
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Braiden? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Braiden and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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