Brennon
Masculine · “Descendant of the sorrowful one”
Brennon is Brennan respelled, and Brennan is an Irish surname built on a word for sorrow or a raindrop — braon, which sources read both ways and which is a genuinely ambiguous word.
How old is the name Brennon?
Brennon first appears in US birth records in 1958 — 67 years ago. The typical Brennon alive today was born around 2002, making them about 23 years old. About 4,300 people named Brennon are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Brennon most popular?
Brennon peaked in 1999, reaching #867 nationally. Today it ranks #5608, 4,741 places below that high. See the whole 1999 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Ó Braonáin to Brennon
The story of Brennon
Several unrelated Ó Braonáin families existed in Ireland, in Kilkenny, Westmeath, Kerry and Galway, and the surname anglicized as Brennan, Brennon and Brannan. Emigration spread it widely. As a given name Brennan appears in American records from the 1970s and rises through the 1990s in the general Irish surname-name wave, alongside Brendan, Brady and Bryson. Brennon is one of the spellings thrown off by that climb, peaking in 1999 at the height of the parent name's own run.
Meaningscholars disagree
Descendant of the sorrowful one, or of the little drop
From Irish Ó Braonáin, a diminutive of braon, which is glossed both as sorrow and as a drop of moisture. Which sense the personal name carried is not settled and Irish surname scholarship gives both. The -on spelling of Brennon is an American variant; the final vowel is reduced in every spelling.
How the name formed
- Ó Braonáin
- Brennan
- Brennon
Related forms: Ó Braonáin · Brennan
Pronouncing Brennon
BREN-un
Two syllables, stress on the first, the second reduced. The -an and -on spellings are identical in speech.
Nicknames for Brennon
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
- 1958
- Most boys named
- 2009189 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #867reached in 1999
- Change vs 2024
- −46.7%16 in 2025, from 30
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.
Brennon in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ó Braonáin in Irish — related form
- Brennan in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, North Carolina, Louisiana.
Brennons among us
people named Brennon are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 106,755 born in 2025 was named Brennon
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 Arnoldo test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Brennon's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Arnoldo climbed just as high around 1967, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Arnoldo's path sketches the road Brennon is walking now.
Brennon 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
Brennon beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Brennon in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It has a genuine Irish surname history behind it.
- Bren works as a short form.
- Everyone can say it after one hearing.
- Brennan is the standard spelling and will be written for it.
- The meaning is contested between sorrow and a raindrop.
- Brennan, Brennon, Brendan and Brannon are close enough to be confused.
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What they receive
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Brennon
Masculine · #5608 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Brennons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 4,300 people named Brennon are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Brennon in 2025?
- Brennon ranks #5608 among US boy names in 2025, with 16 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Brennon?
- About 1 in every 106,755 US boys born in 2025 was named Brennon — 16 in all.
- Will my child share the name Brennon with classmates?
- Brennon will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Brennon
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rolland#5608 · Llewellyn#5608 · Arlie#5608 · Gerrit#5608 · Vinson#5608 · Georgie#5608 · Wally#5608 · Webb#5608
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Brennon? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Brennon and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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