Breena
Variant of Brianna, a feminine Irish name meaning "virtuous, noble".
Name Census estimates that about 862 living Americans carry the first name Breena. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Breena today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Breena births was 2007 (41 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Breena. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
862
~ 1 in 397,627 Americans
Peak year
2007
41 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2022 SSA rank
#11,388
Tracked since 1956
Popularity
Breena: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Breena from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 288 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Breena by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Breena during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Breenas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Breena
The name Breena is believed to have its origins in the Celtic languages of ancient Britain and Ireland. It is thought to be derived from the old Celtic word "bren," which means "hill" or "high place." The name may have been given to children born in hilly or mountainous regions, or it could have been a descriptive name for someone who lived in such an area.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Breena can be traced back to the 9th century, when it appears in ancient Irish annals and manuscripts. One notable example is the mention of a woman named Breena in the Annals of Ulster, a chronicle of medieval Irish history written by monks in the late 15th century.
In the 12th century, a woman named Breena was recorded as being a member of the royal court of King Muirchertach Ua Briain, the High King of Ireland. This suggests that the name was not uncommon among the nobility and upper classes during this period.
As the centuries passed, the name Breena continued to be used across the British Isles, particularly in Ireland and Scotland. Several notable figures throughout history bore this name, including Breena MacKenzie (c. 1590-1654), a Scottish noblewoman and clan chief, and Breena O'Malley (c. 1530-1603), an Irish pirate queen known for her seafaring exploits along the western coast of Ireland.
In the 17th century, Breena Fitzgerald (1628-1692) was a prominent Irish landowner and supporter of the Catholic Confederation of Kilkenny during the Irish Confederate Wars. Around the same time, Breena MacLean (c. 1650-1718) was a Scottish chieftain and leader of the Clan MacLean on the Hebrides Islands.
Moving into more recent times, one notable figure with the name Breena was Breena Kern (1905-1988), an American actress and vaudeville performer who appeared in several Broadway productions and Hollywood films during the 1920s and 1930s.
While the name Breena has its roots in ancient Celtic cultures, it has since spread to other parts of the world and continues to be used as a given name in various contexts, carrying with it a rich historical legacy and connection to the rugged landscapes of the British Isles.
People
Breena + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Breena as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with B
Other first names starting with B with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Breena: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Breena?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 862 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Breena going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 397,627 US residents.
Is Breena a common name?
We classify Breena as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 893 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Breena most popular?
The single biggest year for Breena was 2007, when 41 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Breena is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Breena a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Breena in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.