Breia
A feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly a variant of Briar.
Name Census estimates that about 397 living Americans carry the first name Breia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Breia today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Breia births was 1993 (27 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Breia. 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
397
~ 1 in 863,361 Americans
Peak year
1993
27 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
2024 SSA rank
#15,641
Tracked since 1975
Census
Breia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 359 people with the first name Breia, which placed it at #26,116 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#26,116
National first-name rank
People counted
359
359 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
56.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Breia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Breia is Black at 56.5%. The next largest groups are White (29.2%) and Two or More Races (7.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Breia described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Breia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American56.5% · 203
- White29.2% · 105
- Two or more races7.8% · 28
- Hispanic or Latino3.3% · 12
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.7% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 5
Popularity
Breia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Breia from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 189 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Breia 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 Breia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Breia
The given name Breia is believed to have originated from the Old Norse language, which was spoken by the Germanic tribes inhabiting Scandinavia and parts of modern-day Denmark, Sweden, and Norway between the 8th and 13th centuries. The name is thought to be derived from the Old Norse word "breiðr," which means "broad" or "wide," possibly referring to someone with a broad or sturdy build.
Breia was a relatively uncommon name during the Viking Age, with few recorded instances in historical documents from that time. However, one notable mention of the name can be found in the Icelandic Sagas, a collection of prose narratives that recount the lives and adventures of Scandinavian settlers in Iceland during the 9th to 11th centuries.
The earliest recorded individual with the name Breia is believed to be Breia Thorvaldsdóttir, a Norwegian woman who lived in the late 10th century. She is mentioned in the Laxdæla Saga, one of the most famous Icelandic Sagas, as the wife of a prominent chieftain named Hoskuld.
Another historical figure bearing the name Breia was Breia Svipdagsdóttir, a Swedish noblewoman who lived in the 12th century. She is mentioned in the Gesta Danorum, a work of Danish history written by the scholar Saxo Grammaticus, as the wife of a Danish king named Valdemar I.
In the 13th century, there is a record of a Norwegian woman named Breia Ormsdóttir, who is mentioned in the Sturlunga Saga as the wife of a powerful chieftain named Snorri Sturluson. Snorri was a renowned historian, poet, and politician who played a significant role in the political affairs of Iceland during his lifetime.
Another noteworthy individual with the name Breia was Breia Magnusdóttir, a Swedish noblewoman from the 14th century. She is mentioned in the Erikskrönikan, a medieval Swedish chronicle, as the wife of a Swedish king named Magnus Eriksson.
In the 15th century, there is a record of a Danish woman named Breia Jensdóttir, who is mentioned in the Arild Huitfeldt's Chronicle as the wife of a nobleman from the island of Funen. While not a prominent figure herself, her mention in a historical chronicle suggests that the name Breia was still in use during that time period, albeit infrequently.
People
Breia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Breia 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
Breia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Breia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 397 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Breia 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 863,361 US residents.
Is Breia a common name?
We classify Breia as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 410 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Breia most popular?
The single biggest year for Breia was 1993, when 27 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Breia is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Breia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 359 people with the name Breia, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #26,116 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Breia in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Breia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Breia appears almost entirely female. Of the 352 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Breia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Breia is Black at 56.5%. The next largest groups are White (29.2%) and Two or More Races (7.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Breia most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Breia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 56.5% (203 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Breia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Breia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Breia 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.
Is Breia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Breia in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Breia can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
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.
How common is the name Breia?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Breia at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.