Broadus
Masculine
Broadus is a Southern surname that became a first name inside a single institution, which is how a good many American names spread — not through the country at large but through a community that admired one man.
How old is the name Broadus?
Broadus first appears in US birth records in 1900 — 125 years ago. The typical Broadus alive today was born around 1931, making them about 94 years old. About 300 people named Broadus are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Broadus most popular?
Broadus peaked in 1903, reaching #1009 nationally. See the whole 1903 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Broadus
A name spreads fastest where a name means something. John Broadus was a Baptist preacher and scholar who helped found a seminary, kept it alive through a war that emptied it, and wrote a textbook on how to prepare and deliver a sermon that was still being assigned to students a century later. Within the world that read that book, his surname became an obvious thing to call a son — a marker of where a family stood, legible to everyone who mattered to them and invisible to everyone else. That is the usual mechanism for names like this one. They look, in the national record, like rare curiosities appearing from nowhere; inside their own community they were about as mysterious as naming a boy after a grandfather.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The surname's own origin is not settled; it appears in Virginia records early and the derivations offered for it are guesses. What is documented is why it reached children, which is a different question and a better answered one.
Pronouncing Broadus
BRAW-dus
Two syllables, stress at the front. The ending is unstressed, closer to dus than to dose.
Nicknames for Broadus
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
- 1900
- Most boys named
- 192432 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1009reached in 1903
- Change vs 1987
- −28.6%5 in 2013, from 7
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.
Broaduss among us
people named Broadus are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Broadus sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- It has the weight of a real family name rather than a coinage.
- It is genuinely rare without being difficult to say or spell.
- It carries a documented namesake for anyone who looks.
- The first syllable is an ordinary English adjective, and children will notice.
- The name is tied to one region and one religious tradition.
- There is no meaning to hand him, only a history.
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Broadus
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Broaduss are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 300 people named Broadus are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Broadus in 2025?
- Broadus is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Broadus with classmates?
- Broadus will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More B names
The most-given names starting with B, all years combined.
Brian#339 · Benjamin#11 · Brandon#261 · Bryan#336 · Bruce#536 · Billy#1068 · Bobby#1097 · Bradley#403
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Broadus? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Broadus and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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