Brayton
Masculine · “broad settlement”
Brayton is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 2,506 boys against 22 girls since 1880.
Brayton is an English place name, and its first element is genuinely argued — a Norse word for a broad place and an Old English one for a brow of a hill have both been proposed.
How old is the name Brayton?
Brayton first appears in US birth records in 1916 — 109 years ago. The typical Brayton alive today was born around 2006, making them about 19 years old. About 2,400 people named Brayton are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Brayton most popular?
Brayton peaked in 1996, reaching #1278 nationally. Today it ranks #3949, 2,671 places below that high. See the whole 1996 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Brayton
Brayton in Yorkshire is recorded in Domesday, and the mixed Norse and English elements are typical of that county after Viking settlement. Families took the place name. The surname reached America with English settlement and appears in Rhode Island records; its use as a given name is recent and belongs with the -ton family that Peyton and Colton lead.
Meaningscholars disagree
broad settlement, or hillside settlement
The -ton is Old English tun, a farmstead. The first element is read either as Old Norse breithr, broad, or as brae, a hillside, from a Norse word for an eyebrow. Neither is settled for the Yorkshire village.
Pronouncing Brayton
BRAY-tun
Two syllables, first stressed. There is no variation.
Nicknames for Brayton
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
- 1916
- Most boys named
- 2012106 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1278reached in 1996
- Change vs 2024
- +12.5%27 in 2025, from 24
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.
Brayton in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Braydon in English — spelling variant
- Brighton in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Indiana.
Braytons among us
people named Brayton are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 63,262 born in 2025 was named Brayton
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 Agapito test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Brayton's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Agapito climbed just as high around 1926, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Agapito's path sketches the road Brayton is walking now.
Brayton 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 Brayton is headed
Brayton 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.
Brayton beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Brayton in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A documented English place name with real Norse and English layers in it.
- Read correctly on sight by every English speaker.
- It fits the -ton group without being one of the crowded ones.
- The Bray clip is the English verb for the noise a donkey makes.
- Brayton, Braydon and Braden are all close and get confused.
- The first element is genuinely argued between two readings.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Brayton
Masculine · #3949 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Braytons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,400 people named Brayton are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Brayton in 2025?
- Brayton ranks #3949 among US boy names in 2025, with 27 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Brayton?
- About 1 in every 63,262 US boys born in 2025 was named Brayton — 27 in all.
- Will my child share the name Brayton with classmates?
- Brayton will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Brayton
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Stewart#3949 · Tillman#3949 · Ashley#3949 · Alfonzo#3949 · Blane#3949 · Omega#3949 · Graeme#3949 · Rufus#3949
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Brayton? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Brayton 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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