Briahna
A feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly a combination of Celtic and Gaelic elements.
Name Census estimates that about 1,138 living Americans carry the first name Briahna. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Briahna today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Briahna births was 2008 (82 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Briahna. 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
1.1K
~ 1 in 301,190 Americans
Peak year
2008
82 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2018 SSA rank
#10,714
Tracked since 1982
Census
Briahna in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 978 people with the first name Briahna, which placed it at #12,647 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
#12,647
National first-name rank
People counted
978
978 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
48.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Briahna
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Briahna is White at 48.2%. The next largest groups are Black (24.2%) and Hispanic (15.8%). 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 Briahna 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 Briahna at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White48.2% · 471
- Black or African American24.2% · 237
- Hispanic or Latino15.8% · 155
- Two or more races9.9% · 97
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.4% · 14
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 4
Popularity
Briahna: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Briahna from the 1980s through to the 2010s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 562 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
Briahna 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 Briahna during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Briahnas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Briahna, while Tennessee, Pennsylvania, North Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 22 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Briahna
The name Briahna is a modern variant of the name Briana, which has its origins in the Celtic languages of ancient Britain and Ireland. The name is thought to be derived from the Celtic words "bri" or "brig," meaning "hill" or "high place," and the suffix "-ana," which was a common feminine ending in Celtic names.
In its earliest form, the name was likely spelled as "Brigana" or "Brigantia," and was associated with the ancient Celtic tribe known as the Brigantes, who inhabited parts of what is now northern England and southern Scotland. This tribe was known for their fierce resistance against the Roman invasion of Britain in the 1st century AD, and their name may have been derived from the Celtic word for "high ones" or "upland dwellers."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the writings of the ancient Greek historian Ptolemy, who mentioned a town called "Brigantium" in his work "Geographia" around 150 AD. This town was likely located in the territory of the Brigantes tribe.
As Christianity spread throughout Europe in the Middle Ages, the name became associated with the Catholic Saint Brigid of Kildare, who lived in Ireland in the 5th century AD. Saint Brigid is one of the most revered saints in Irish folklore and is often depicted with a perpetual flame or a cross made of rushes.
Notable historical figures who bore the name Briahna or its variants include:
1. Brianna of Brittany (c. 1201-1269), a Duchess of Brittany who played a significant role in the Breton War of Succession.
2. Brianna Connolly (1548-1624), an Irish noblewoman and landowner known for her patronage of the arts and literature.
3. Brianna Macgregor (c. 1670-1745), a Scottish outlaw and cattle rustler who became a legendary figure in the Scottish Highlands.
4. Brianna Troughton (1792-1865), an English novelist and travel writer who wrote extensively about her travels in Europe and the Middle East.
5. Brianna Cartwright (1855-1937), an American suffragist and women's rights activist who campaigned for the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution.
While the name Briahna has evolved over time and has taken on various spellings and forms, it retains its connection to the ancient Celtic cultures of Britain and Ireland and the rich history and mythology associated with those regions.
People
Briahna + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Briahna 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
Briahna: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Briahna?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,138 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Briahna 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 301,190 US residents.
Is Briahna a common name?
We classify Briahna as "Rare". It ranks above 90.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,162 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Briahna most popular?
The single biggest year for Briahna was 2008, when 82 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Briahna is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Briahna in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 978 people with the name Briahna, or 0.32 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,647 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 Briahna 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 Briahna?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Briahna appears almost entirely female. Of the 979 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Briahna?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Briahna is White at 48.2%. The next largest groups are Black (24.2%) and Hispanic (15.8%). 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 Briahna most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Briahna in the 2020 Census, accounting for 48.2% (471 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 Briahna in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Briahna a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Briahna 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 Briahna still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Briahna 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 Briahna 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 many people have Briahna as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Briahna, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.