Explore the Family Name Bro

The meaning of Bro

1. Scandinavian: habitational name from any of various places called with Swedish or Danish bro, Norwegian bro or bru ‘bridge’. 2. Altered form of French Brault and also of American French Breaux. Compare Broe and Brow. 3. Possibly an altered form of Irish Broe, a variant of Brew.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Bro in the United States?

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the surname 'Bro' saw a slight decrease in popularity from 2000 to 2010. The rank of the name went down by 0.97%, moving from 37,534 in 2000 to 37,899 in 2010. However, the count of individuals with this surname actually increased by 5.02%, from 558 people in 2000 to 586 in 2010. Despite this, the overall proportion per 100,000 people decreased slightly by 4.76%.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#37,534	#37,899	-0.97%
Count	558	586	5.02%
Proportion per 100k	0.21	0.2	-4.76%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Bro

The ethnicity breakdown for the surname 'Bro' also saw shifts between 2000 and 2010, according to the Decennial U.S. Census. In 2000, 84.95% of people with the surname identified as White, a number that rose slightly to 85.32% in 2010. There was an increase in those identifying as Hispanic, going from 3.05% in 2000 to 4.44% in 2010. Additionally, the percentage of those identifying with two or more races was recorded at 1.88% in 2010, data not available in 2000. On the other hand, there was a decline among those identifying as Black, from 8.6% in 2000 to 6.83% in 2010. Data for Asian/Pacific Islander and American Indian and Alaskan Native ethnicities were either suppressed or remained at zero.

	2000	2010	Change
White	84.95%	85.32%	0.44%
Black	8.6%	6.83%	-20.58%
Hispanic	3.05%	4.44%	45.57%
Two or More Races	0%	1.88%	0%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	1.43%	0%	0%