The Brain surname
In the 2010 U.S. Census, 1,533 people carried this name — #18,156 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 192,300 people counted. That is up 8% from 1,426 in 2000.
What the name means
The meaning of the Brain surname
From the Irish and Scottish Gaelic surname, from mac an Bhreitheamhan (“son of the judge”), from breitheamh (“judge”).
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary (en.wiktionary.org) — entry «Brain» (English), by Wiktionary contributors · licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) · excerpt, lightly adapted.
In Argentina’s national register
At least 298 people named Brain live in Argentina.
RENAPER only publishes a name in a province when more than ten people there share it, so the real number is higher. Most of them live in Buenos Aires Province.
Where it concentrates, on the mapWhere they live today
RENAPER (National Registry of Persons, Argentina), surnames of residents by province, December 2021 — CC BY 4.0.
In France’s civil register
France’s register of deaths holds 125 people named Brain.
7 of them were born outside France. Those born in France came from 21 départements, most often Deux-Sèvres.
Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.
Where they were born
Fichier des personnes décédées, INSEE — Licence Ouverte 2.0 · deaths recorded in France since 1970, by place of birth.
Among the farmers of England and Wales, 1880s
Brain was found among the farmers of 3 counties.
It was most frequent in Gloucestershire: 24 in every 10,000 farmers there — about 1 in 417. Guppy counted the farmers listed in each county’s directory and recorded a name only where it reached about 7 in every 10,000; where it does not appear, it was rarer than that, not absent.
Where it concentrates, on the mapPer 10,000 farmers, by county
H. B. Guppy, «Homes of Family Names in Great Britain» (London, 1890), alphabetical list of English and Welsh names — public domain · farmers in Kelly’s Post Office Directories of the 1880s, per 10,000 farmers in each county.
In print
Brain in American newspapers,
1874–1922.
Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain · 1,692,703 pages in all carry the name.
Who carried it
People named Brain,
with a public archive behind them.
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Dave Brain 1879–1959 · baseball player -
John Brain d. 1862 · engraver
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Ann Catherine Cottrell d. 1892
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Edith Alice Smith d. 1947
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Samuel Brain 1850–1903
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Joseph Brain 1863–1914 · cricketer
Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons (CC0) · 10 lives in all are documented under this name.
Nearby in the index
Surnames next to Brain.
- Brague 191 · U.S. census
- Braham 2,680 · U.S. census
- Brahim 140 · U.S. census
- Brahimi 202 · U.S. census
- Braida 162 · U.S. census
- Brail 124 · U.S. census
- Bral 172 · U.S. census
- Braley 3,924 · U.S. census
- Brambilla 223 · U.S. census
- Brame 2,911 · U.S. census
- Brams 129 · U.S. census
- Bran 1,687 · U.S. census
When the index is not enough
This page says where Brain is.
A volume says what happened to it.
Every page in the index is free and stays free. The Heritage Volume is the long form: the full paper trail, the arms, the crossing — bound, and yours.