Bruce is a Scottish surname of Norman origin that means "from Brix", a town in Normandy; Robert the Bruce, king of Scots, turned it into a symbol of Scottish pride. Bruce Springsteen, Bruce Lee and Bruce Willis made it part of American pop culture, and it is the first name of Batman's Bruce Wayne. Hugely popular in the 1950s, Bruce ranked number 432 in 2000 and holds steady at number 536 among boys' names in 2025, the same rank as in 2024.