How rare is the name Bret?

25,548 people in the United States have the first name Bret, about 1 in 11,822. It ranks #1,384 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

BRET

#1,384

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
25,548
About
1 in 11,822
This common or more
74.3%
Who bears it

Of the 25,548 people named Bret, 92.7% reported their origin as White, 2.7% as two or more races and 2.3% as Hispanic or Latino. 99% are male. These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Bret peaked in 1959, when 1,839 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
19262025
Peak year
1959
Births that year
1,839
In 2025*
20 ▼99%
Recorded as
almost entirely male

At least 30,051 babies have been given the name since 1926. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Bret by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1960s, when it ranked #576. The largest share of babies named Bret, 33.4%, were born between 1965 and 1980, Generation X's birth years.

1920s#13,8275
1940s#4,322133
1950s#8073,963
1960s#5768,420
1970s#7205,554
1980s#7405,671
1990s#1,0904,091
2000s#2,3501,647
2010s#6,196437
2020s#9,763130
Greatest Generation 1901–270%
Silent Generation 1928–450.2%
Baby boom 1946–6427.9%
Generation X 1965–8033.4%
Millennials 1981–9627.9%
Generation Z 1997–129.3%
2013 and later1.2%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Bret is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Bret has been most common in Utah (4.4×), Idaho (3×), and Montana (2.8×), and least common in South Carolina (0.09×).

26,712 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Either side of Bret

#1,382 Shauna · 25,557#1,383 Sienna · 25,552#1,385 Maryjane · 25,541#1,386 Jodie · 25,495

Spelled almost the same

3 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Bret, most common first.

#397 Brett · 142,080#10,003 Brit · 1,354#39,134 Breta · 194

Also a last name

As a last name, Bret ranks #147,221 of 156,621, with 113 people. See Bret as a last name

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