Bridgett
A feminine diminutive of the English name Bridget, meaning "strong" or "exalted one".
Name Census estimates that about 11,786 living Americans carry the first name Bridgett. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Bridgett today is around 46 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bridgett births was 1970 (482 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bridgett. 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
12K
~ 1 in 29,081 Americans
Peak year
1970
482 babies that year
Average age
46
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,017
Tracked since 1942
Census
Bridgett in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 10,282 people with the first name Bridgett, which placed it at #2,419 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
#2,419
National first-name rank
People counted
10K
10,282 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
60.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bridgett
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bridgett is White at 60.1%. The next largest groups are Black (28.6%) and Hispanic (7.1%). 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 Bridgett 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 Bridgett at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White60.1% · 6,178
- Black or African American28.6% · 2,937
- Hispanic or Latino7.1% · 728
- Two or more races3.1% · 318
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 85
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 36
Popularity
Bridgett: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bridgett from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 3,677 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Bridgett 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 Bridgett during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Bridgetts live
The SSA's state-level files cover 35 states and territories. Texas, California, Georgia recorded the most babies named Bridgett, while Oregon, Connecticut, District of Columbia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 291 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Bridgett
The name Bridgett is an English feminine form of the masculine name Bridget, derived from the Irish Gaelic name Brighid. Brighid was the name of a Celtic goddess associated with fertility, healing, and poetry in Irish mythology. It is believed that the name Brighid originated from the Old Celtic word "brig," meaning "exalted one" or "powerful."
Bridgett gained popularity as a Christian name after St. Bridget of Kildare, a 5th-century Irish nun who founded several monasteries in Ireland. She is one of Ireland's patron saints, and her feast day is celebrated on February 1st. The name Bridgett spread throughout Europe during the Middle Ages due to the veneration of St. Bridget.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Bridgett can be found in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a collection of annals documenting the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The name appears in the entry for the year 1066, which describes the Norman Conquest of England.
Throughout history, several notable women have borne the name Bridgett. One example is Bridgett Mendler, an American actress and singer born in 1992, best known for her role in the Disney Channel series "Good Luck Charlie." Another is Bridgett Wagner, an American model and actress born in 1963, who appeared in several popular television shows and films in the 1980s and 1990s.
In the literary world, Bridgett Jones, the fictional protagonist of the novel and film series "Bridget Jones's Diary" by Helen Fielding, became a cultural icon in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The character's name was a play on the name "Bridget," adding the "t" at the end.
Bridgett Riley, an English painter born in 1931, is renowned for her pioneering work in the Op Art movement, creating visual illusions through the use of geometric patterns and contrasting colors.
Lastly, Bridgett Fonden, a Swedish actress born in 1950, gained international recognition for her roles in several Swedish and American films, including "Papillion" (1973) and "The Boys from Brazil" (1978).
People
Bridgett + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bridgett 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
Bridgett: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bridgett?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 11,786 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bridgett 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 29,081 US residents.
Is Bridgett a common name?
We classify Bridgett as "Uncommon". It ranks above 97.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 13,105 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bridgett most popular?
The single biggest year for Bridgett was 1970, when 482 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bridgett is about 46 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bridgett in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 10,282 people with the name Bridgett, or 3.40 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,419 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 Bridgett 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 Bridgett?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bridgett appears almost entirely female. Of the 10,270 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Bridgett?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bridgett is White at 60.1%. The next largest groups are Black (28.6%) and Hispanic (7.1%). 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 Bridgett most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Bridgett in the 2020 Census, accounting for 60.1% (6,178 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 Bridgett in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bridgett a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Bridgett 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 Bridgett still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bridgett 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 Bridgett 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 Americans are named Bridgett?
You can see how many people share the name Bridgett on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.