Bree
Feminine · “hill”
Bree is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 9,287 girls against 17 boys since 1880.
Bree is short and has been standing on its own for decades, but it came from somewhere: it is the front of Brianna, the end of Aubrey, and separately an Irish word that turns up in place-names all over the country.
How old is the name Bree?
Bree first appears in US birth records in 1971 — 54 years ago. The typical Bree alive today was born around 2001, making them about 24 years old. About 9,100 people named Bree are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Bree most popular?
Bree peaked in 1977, reaching #616 nationally. Today it ranks #2822, 2,206 places below that high. See the whole 1977 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From brí to Bree
The story of Bree
Irish bri gave a scatter of hill place-names and, through the goddess and saint Brigid, one of the most-used names in the country. Brianna is a modern feminine of Brian, whose own root is the same bri. English speakers shortened all of them to Bree, and the spelling settled with the double e because it tells an English reader exactly what to do. It has been in American use as a complete name since the second half of the twentieth century, rather than only as a trimming of something longer.
Meaningscholars disagree
hill, or vigor — on the Irish road
Irish bri means both a hill and force or significance, and it names places across Ireland; it is also the element behind Brigid. That is documented. But most American Brees are short forms — of Brianna, whose root is the Irish bri as well, or of Brigid, Aubrey or Gabrielle. So several roads lead here and one of them is the same root arriving twice, by different routes.
How the name formed
- brí
- Bree
Related forms: Brí · Brianna · Bri
Pronouncing Bree
BREE
One syllable, rhyming with tree. Nobody gets it wrong; only the spelling ever comes up, since Bri, Brie and Bree are all in use.
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
- 1971
- Most girls named
- 2010308 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #616reached in 1977
- Change vs 2024
- −16.7%60 in 2025, from 72
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.
Bree in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Brí in Irish — related form
- Brianna in English — related form
- Bri in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Brees among us
people named Bree are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 26,788 born in 2025 was named Bree
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 Aloma test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Bree's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Aloma climbed just as high around 1942, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Aloma's path sketches the road Bree is walking now.
Bree 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 Bree is headed
Bree is easing off slowly — about 22% 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.
Bree beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Bree in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One syllable and four letters, said correctly by everyone at first sight.
- Brianna and Brigid both stand behind it as longer formal options if one is wanted.
- Pairs cleanly with a long surname, as short first names generally do.
- Brie is a cheese and the two spellings are constantly swapped in writing.
- It is very short, with nothing to shorten further and no built-in formal version.
- As a trimming of several longer names it can read as a nickname on documents.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Bree to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Bree
Feminine · #2822 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Brees are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 9,100 people named Bree are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Bree in 2025?
- Bree ranks #2822 among US girl names in 2025, with 60 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Bree?
- About 1 in every 26,788 US girls born in 2025 was named Bree — 60 in all.
- Will my child share the name Bree with classmates?
- Bree will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Bree
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Lya#2822 · Roxanna#2822 · Kensington#2822 · Maybelle#2822 · Hayat#2822 · Seven#2822 · Livie#2822 · Haniya#2822
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Bree? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Bree and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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
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