Brandon (given name)

Brandon
Pronunciation/ˈbrændən/ BRAN-dən
GenderMale
Language(s)Old Irish, Old Welsh, Old English, French
Origin
MeaningBroom hill (Old English), Crow, Little Raven (Old Welsh), or Chieftain (Old Irish)
Region of origin
Other names
Variant form(s)Brandan; Branden; Brandyn; Brandin; Brendon; Brandun
Derivedbreenhin or brōm + dūn
Related namesBrendan; Brando; Brad (surname); Brandon (surname); Brandi; Brandie; Brandy; Brendan

Brandon is a masculine given name that is a transferred use of a surname and place name derived from the Old English brōm, meaning broom or gorse, and dūn, meaning hill. It is also sometimes a variant of the Irish masculine given name, Breandán, meaning "prince".[1]

Origin of the name

The given name Brandon as a variant form of the Irish given name Brendan.[2][unreliable source] is an Anglicised form of the Old Irish name, Bréanainn, which is in turn derived from the earlier Old Irish Brénainn. The medieval Latin form of the name, Brendanus, has influenced its spelling in the modern English and Irish forms. However, the name has no meaning in the Irish language, and was absorbed from the Old Welsh breenhin, meaning "prince" or " chieftain."[contradictory]

In the instance of the Welsh "Bran" as the origin, meaning "crow" or "little raven", there is also a general Celtic nebula of related words and names across the European continent.[3]

In the instance of a more probable Anglo-Saxon origin, the surname can be derived from any of the numerous place-names in England, composed of two elements (brōm + dūn) derived from the Old English language. The first element, brōm, means "broom" or "gorse", and the second, dūn, means "hill". Such places can include: Brandon, County Durham; Brandon, Northumberland; Brandon, Suffolk; Brandon, Warwickshire; and other locations.[4] However, one location, Brandon in Lincolnshire, may be connected to the River Brant, which runs close by.[4] This river's name is derived from two Old English elements: brant, meaning "steep", "deep"; and dūn, meaning "hill"[5] The name of this location is probably in reference to the river's steep banks.[4] A famous instance of the use of 'Brandon' as a surname is that of Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk. He was a close friend and brother-in-law of King Henry VIII. In certain cases, it can be the French surname Brandon, which derives from the other French surname Brand, itself from the Old French brand, brant "sword" or from the French word brandon "burning material to set fire".[6][7] Variant form is Brandin.[8]

Statistics

Australia

In Australia's most populated state, New South Wales, in the year 2009, Brandon did not crack the top 100 male, or top 100 female, names of babies registered in New South Wales.[9]

Canada

In the Canadian province of British Columbia, the name ranked as the 66th most popular male name for the year 2007; it did not rank as a female name (to rank the name had to have been used by 5 or more occurrences).[10]

Chile

In Chile, the name has not cracked the top 50 male names in the years spanning 1999 to 2006; from 2003 to 2006 it was amongst the top 100 male names.

Rank and percent of the male name
Year 1999[11] 2000[12] 2001[13] 2002[14] 2003[15] 2004[16] 2005[17] 2006[18]
Rank >50 >50 >50 >50 62 63 67 70
Percent 0.18 0.17 0.16 0.14

The Netherlands

In the year 2009, Brandon was the 160th most common male name, recorded in births, in the Netherlands; there were 67 occurrences of the name recorded that year.[19] The previous year the name ranked 159th, with 73 recorded occurrences.[20]

Republic of Ireland

Rank of male Irish baby births, and rank of male Irish names[21]
Year 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Rank (births) 67 89 88 67 92 80 85 63 84 74 75
Rank (total) 74 67 67 83 70 76 78 98 79 97 101

Sweden

In Sweden, there were 230 males registered in 2009 who had the first name Brandon; of these men, 170 recorded the name as a nickname.[22] In the years spanning 2002 to 2009, the name was not amongst the top 100 male, or female, baby names.[23]

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, the name has risen in popularity since the mid-1990s.[24]

England and Wales

In England and Wales, in the year 2008, Brandon was the 70th most common male baby name, along with Breasen being a form of Brandon or meaning son of Brandon, with 1,011 occurrences recorded.[25] It had fallen in rank, slightly from the previous year when it was ranked 66th most common, with 1161 occurrences.[26] The name has dramatically fallen in popularity since 1998, when it was ranked 36th, with 2142 occurrences recorded.[27]

Rank and numbers of English and Welsh baby births
Year 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007[26] 2008[25]
Rank 36 35 35 37 37 40 44 47 54 66 70
Count 1,161 1,011

Northern Ireland

In Northern Ireland, Brandon was not amongst the top 20 names of male, or female, babies born in the year 2009.[28] It did not crack the top 100 male, or the top 100 female, names registered in the two previous years either.[29][30] In 2002 the name was ranked 84 most common male baby name, falling drastically from 30th ranked name the year before.[31]

Rank and numbers of male Northern Irish baby births

The name did not rank amongst the top 100 male baby names in 2007 and 2008.[29][30]

Year 1999[32] 2000[32] 2001[33] 2002[31] 2003[34] 2004[35] 2005[36] 2006[37] 2007[29] 2008[30]
Rank 70 59 56 84 88 74 89 97
-
-
Count 42 51 54 30 31 40 33 33
-
-

Scotland

In Scotland, in the year 2009, the name was ranked as the 90th most common names for male babies, with 67 occurrences recorded. The name had dramatically fallen in popularity from the previous year. In the years 1998 and 1999, the name was the 46th most common name for male births, although the name has fallen in rank in almost every year since then.

Rank and percent of male Scottish baby births
Year 1900[38] 1950[39] 1975[40] 1997[41] 1998[42] 1999[43] 2000[44] 2001[45] 2002[46] 2003[47] 2004[47] 2005[48] 2006[49] 2007[50] 2008[51] 2009[52]
Rank >100 >100 >100 53 52 46 46 49 53 61 53 61 65 75 71 90
Count >100 >100 >100 149 142 173 161 153 138 138 108 110 105 88 98 67

United States

The name is, for the most part, found in North America. In 1982, the name was the 7th most common given name amongst African American males, and the 23rd most common name amongst White American males.[2] The name was ranked in the 1990 United States Census as being the 68th most common name amongst males.[53] Usage of the name in the United States has declined in recent years due to associations with Let's Go Brandon, a veiled slur against President Joseph Biden.[54]

The Social Security Administration website lists the top 1,000 American baby names for every year since 1879. In the year 1950, Brandon first reached the top 1,000 male names for babies who were registered for Social Security numbers for births. That year it was the 936th most common masculine name. From that year until the beginning of the 1990s, the name has, for the most part, risen in popularity with every successive year. It reached its peak in the years 1992, 1993, and 1994, when it was the 6th most popular name amongst male babies. The name has fallen in popularity in almost every year since then; in 2009, it was ranked the 38th most common name registered that year.[55]

Brandon is considered to be a very masculine name; however, in the United States it has also been used as a feminine name. In 1981, it reached the top 1,000 female names for babies who were registered for Social Security numbers for births; that year it was the 748th most common female name registered for births. The name stayed within the top 1,000 female names from 1981 to 1988, fluctuating in rank; it reached its peak in 1985, when it ranked 661st; in 1988, it ranked 990th.[55]

In 2009, the names Brandon and Bryan were ranked as the 15th most common names for male twins, according to Social Security number applications for births.[56]

Years when the name ranked amongst the top 1,000 American baby names

The following table lists the year and rank when Brandon ranked amongst the top 1,000 male, or the top 1,000 female, baby names in the United States.[55] If no rank is given in the table, then the name was not amongst the top 1,000. The highest rank for males, and for females, is labelled in boldface.

Year 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
Rank (male) 936 985 812 662 583 723 585 666 661 567 577 565 566 498 455 393 379 341 263 217
Year 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
Rank (male) 131 95 63 58 51 44 40 41 40 35 30 19 18 17 15 13 13 14 17 18
Rank (female)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
 748 804 683 706 661 683 806 990
-
Year 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Rank (male) 19 15 6 7 6 8 8 7 7 11 12 18 20 21 22 27 27 31 33 38
Year 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Rank (male) 44 47 56 70 71 83 99 114 124 141 167 181 211

Feminine forms

It has been stated that the feminine given name Brandy is derived from a word referring to a liquor called "brandy wine", or "brandewine". These English words are derived from the Dutch language brandewijn,[57] meaning "burnt wine", in reference to a distilled wine.[58] However, the name Brandy is now considered to be more likely a feminine form of Brandon. Variant forms of Brandy include: Brandie, and Brandi.[57]

People with the name Brandon

Academia

Art

Business

Crime

Entertainment

Health

  • Brandon Colby, American physician, geneticist, and medical writer
  • Brandon del Pozo (born 1974), American assistant professor of medicine and health; former chief of police
  • Brandon Gaut, American evolutionary biologist, geneticist, and professor
  • Brandon Ogbunu, American computational biologist and professor

Law

Literature

Military

Politics

Religion

  • Brandon Crouch (born 1983), American Christian evangelist, youth speaker, and television broadcaster

Sports

Disambiguation

Other

Fictional characters

See also

References

  1. ^ Hanks, Patrick; Hardcastle, Kate; Hodges, Flavia (2006). Oxford Dictionary of First Names. Oxford University Press. pp. 37, 342. ISBN 0-19-861060-2.
  2. ^ a b Learn about the family history of your surname, Ancestry.com, retrieved 25 April 2010 The webpage cited the following book for the given name "Brandon": A Dictionary of First Names. Oxford University Press. 1996. ISBN 0-19-280050-7.
  3. ^ "Old European culture: Bran Vran". 29 April 2014.
  4. ^ a b c Learn about the family history of your surname, Ancestry.com, retrieved 10 May 2010. The webpage cited the following book for the surname "Brandon": Dictionary of American Family Names. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-508137-4.
  5. ^ Brandon, Encyclopedia.com, retrieved 10 May 2010. The webpage cited the following book for the placename "Brandon": Mills, A.D. (2003). A Dictionary of British Place-Names. Oxford University Press.
  6. ^ Albert Dauzat, Noms et prénoms de France, Librairie Larousse, 1980, p. 63b.
  7. ^ Repartition of the surname Brandon by birth in France
  8. ^ DAUZAT, p. 63b
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  58. ^ Brandy, Online Etymology Dictionary, retrieved 22 May 2010 See also: Brandy, Dictionary.com, retrieved 22 May 2010

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