The story in the numbers

312,200 boys have been named Bradley in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1980, with 7,209 births — 0.40% of all boys recorded that year.

It is falling: its share of births is 60% or less of what it was ten years ago (rank 183 → 364).

Half of everyone given the name was born by 1981, and the 1980s alone account for 22%. It has spent 139 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 38 of them in the top 100.

It is overwhelmingly a boy’s name: 1,913 girls have also been given it, 0.61% of the total.

Rank among boys, year by year

By decade

Decade

boys named Bradley

118

128

479

873

1,830

5,532

29,506

48,726

58,684

69,354

48,085

23,617

20,152

5,074

In 1980, its biggest year

Bradley was the 51st most given boy’s name that year. The top five boys’ names of 1980 were Michael, Christopher, Jason, David and James. See all of 1980.

Names that rose and fell with Bradley

Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.

Other spellings in the data

What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.