Braydon
Masculine · “descendant of the salmon”
Braydon is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 14,315 boys against 23 girls since 1880.
Braydon is Braden respelled, and the Irish surname behind it is Ó Bradáin — descendant of the salmon, one of the more vivid Irish personal names to survive as a family name.
How old is the name Braydon?
Braydon first appears in US birth records in 1977 — 48 years ago. The typical Braydon alive today was born around 2008, making them about 17 years old. About 14,000 people named Braydon are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Braydon most popular?
Braydon peaked in 2009, reaching #311 nationally. Today it ranks #1778, 1,467 places below that high. See the whole 2009 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From bradán to Braydon
The story of Braydon
Ó Bradáin was anglicized as Bradan, Braden and Bradon, and the surname crossed into American given-name use in the late twentieth century. It arrived inside a large sound family — Brandon, Braden, Jayden, Kayden, Aidan — that generated dozens of spellings at once. Braydon rose through the 1990s and peaked in the mid-2000s.
Meaningscholars disagree
descendant of the salmon
From the Irish Ó Bradáin, from bradán, 'salmon'. The salmon is a creature of some weight in Irish tradition — the Salmon of Knowledge gives Fionn his wisdom. An English route also exists, from a place name meaning 'broad hill'. Both feed the modern name.
How the name formed
- bradán
- Ó Bradáin
- Braden
- Braydon
Related forms: Braden · Braeden · Ó Bradáin
Pronouncing Braydon
BRAY-dun
Two syllables, stress on the first. All the Brad-/Bray- spellings are said identically.
Nicknames for Braydon
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
- 1977
- Most boys named
- 20091,035 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #311reached in 2009
- Change vs 2024
- −15.9%90 in 2025, from 107
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.
Braydon in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Braden in English — spelling variant
- Braeden in English — spelling variant
- Ó Bradáin in Irish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Braydons among us
people named Braydon are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 18,979 born in 2025 was named Braydon
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 Rodolfo test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Braydon's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Rodolfo climbed just as high around 1981, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Rodolfo's path sketches the road Braydon is walking now.
Braydon 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 Braydon is headed
Braydon is easing off slowly — about 26% 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.
Braydon beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Braydon in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The salmon meaning is concrete and carries real weight in Irish tradition.
- Two clean syllables that fit the current sound.
- A documented Irish family stands behind it.
- At least four spellings of the sound are in common use.
- Brandon and Braden are close enough to be confused constantly.
- It is closely dated to the 2000s.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Braydon
Masculine · #1778 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Braydons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 14,000 people named Braydon are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Braydon in 2025?
- Braydon ranks #1778 among US boy names in 2025, with 90 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Braydon?
- About 1 in every 18,979 US boys born in 2025 was named Braydon — 90 in all.
- Will my child share the name Braydon with classmates?
- Braydon will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Braydon
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Haroon#1778 · Jamarion#1778 · Xion#1778 · Irving#1778 · Edrick#1778 · Xyleek#1778 · Marlin#1778 · Makhi#1778
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Braydon? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Braydon and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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