Brett
Feminine · “Middle English Bret”
Brett is given to boys far more often — 159,109 boys against 3,404 girls since 1880. See Brett as a boy name
Brett means a Breton, and the Bretons are Britons. When Anglo-Saxons pushed into Britain in the fifth and sixth centuries, some of the Romano-British population crossed to the peninsula of Armorica and took their language with them, which is why Breton is a Celtic language spoken in France and is closer to Welsh than to anything else.
How old is the name Brett?
Brett first appears in US birth records in 1950 — 75 years ago. The typical Brett alive today was born around 1987, making them about 38 years old. About 3,300 people named Brett are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Brett most popular?
Brett peaked in 1986, reaching #917 nationally. Today it ranks #8860, 7,943 places below that high. See the whole 1986 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Bret to Brett
The story of Brett
The migration to Armorica ran from the fourth to the seventh century and it moved enough people to change the peninsula's language permanently. The result is a Celtic language on the continent, the only one, and its closest relative is Cornish, spoken across the water. Breton and Welsh are mutually incomprehensible now but the relationship is obvious to a linguist and was obvious to medieval writers: the Arthurian material moved between Wales, Cornwall and Brittany freely and the Bretons were regarded as cousins. When the Normans invaded England in 1066 a substantial Breton contingent came with them, and their descendants were recorded as le Bret, the Breton, which is where the surname comes from. So the name records a return: people whose ancestors had left Britain coming back as foreigners.
Meaning
Middle English Bret, a Breton
From the Middle English surname Bret or Brett, meaning a native of Brittany, applied to Bretons who came to England with the Normans. Brittany is named for the Britons who settled it, and Breton is a Brythonic Celtic language closely related to Cornish and Welsh. Brett has been used for both sexes in the United States and peaks for girls in 1986.
How the name formed
- Bret
- Brett
Related forms: Bret · Le Breton
Pronouncing Brett
bret
One syllable, short e. The doubled t marks the vowel short, which it would be anyway. Bret and Brett are homophones.
Nicknames for Brett
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
- 1950
- Most girls named
- 1987127 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #917reached in 1986
- Change vs 2023
- −8.3%11 in 2025, from 12
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.
Brett in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Bret in English — spelling variant
- Le Breton in French — related form
Bretts among us
people named Brett are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 146,115 born in 2025 was named Brett
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 Aleen test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Brett's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Aleen climbed just as high around 1900, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Aleen's path sketches the road Brett is walking now.
Brett 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
Brett beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Brett in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is settled and the history behind it is genuinely interesting.
- One syllable, easy to say and to spell.
- It has a documented history of female use in the United States.
- It is read as male in most American contexts.
- Bret with one t is a competing spelling.
- The female use is closely dated to the 1970s and 1980s.
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What they receive
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Brett
Feminine · #8860 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Bretts are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,300 people named Brett are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Brett in 2025?
- Brett ranks #8860 among US girl names in 2025, with 11 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Brett?
- About 1 in every 146,115 US girls born in 2025 was named Brett — 11 in all.
- Will my child share the name Brett with classmates?
- Brett will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Brett
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Lida#8860 · Lauretta#8860 · Dot#8860 · Bonita#8860 · Benita#8860 · Trixie#8860 · Adna#8860 · Sue#8860
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Brett? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Brett and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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