Brienne
A feminine name of French origin meaning "having strong faith".
Name Census estimates that about 1,439 living Americans carry the first name Brienne. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Brienne today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Brienne births was 1979 (122 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Brienne. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Brienne with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.4K
~ 1 in 238,189 Americans
Peak year
1979
122 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
1980 SSA rank
#6,368
Tracked since 1977
Census
Brienne in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,338 people with the first name Brienne, which placed it at #10,094 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
#10,094
National first-name rank
People counted
1.3K
1,338 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
77.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Brienne
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brienne is White at 77.2%. The next largest groups are Black (7.2%) and Two or More Races (6.7%). 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 Brienne 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 Brienne at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White77.2% · 1,033
- Black or African American7.2% · 96
- Two or more races6.7% · 89
- Hispanic or Latino5.8% · 78
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.2% · 29
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 13
Gender
Gender distribution for Brienne
Out of the 1,502 babies given the name Brienne since 1880, 99.7% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Brienne as a male name
- Ranked #6,368 in 1980
- 5 male births in 1980
- Peak: 1980 (5 births)
Brienne as a female name
- Ranked #8,512 in 2024
- 12 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1979 (122 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Brienne appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,339 people counted with this name, 99.3% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Brienne: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Brienne from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 596 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Brienne 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 Brienne during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Briennes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 15 states and territories. California, New York, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Brienne, while Washington, Utah, Minnesota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 21 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Brienne
The given name Brienne finds its origins in the Old French language, having emerged during the Middle Ages. Its roots can be traced back to the Breton word "bren," which means "hill" or "ridge." This suggests the name may have initially been associated with geographical features or regions characterized by such terrain.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Brienne can be found in the annals of the influential Brienne family, a noble lineage that originated in the Champagne region of northeastern France. This family played a significant role in the Crusades and produced several notable figures throughout history.
In the 12th century, a member of this family, John of Brienne, became the King of Jerusalem from 1210 to 1225. His reign was marked by his efforts to defend the dwindling Crusader territories in the Holy Land against the encroaching Muslim forces.
Another notable figure bearing the name Brienne was Marie de Brienne, who lived in the 13th century. She was the daughter of John of Brienne and inherited the title of Countess of Lecce and Brindisi in southern Italy.
Moving forward in history, Brienne de Lux was a 15th-century French noblewoman who served as the Lady of Honor to Queen Marie of Anjou, wife of King Charles VII of France.
In the realm of literature, the name Brienne gained prominence through the character of Brienne of Tarth, a notable figure in George R.R. Martin's acclaimed fantasy series "A Song of Ice and Fire." This fictional character, born in 280 AC (After Conquest), is a skilled warrior and member of the Kingsguard known for her unwavering loyalty and sense of honor.
While the name Brienne may have originated from geographical references, it has also been adopted as a given name, particularly in France and other parts of Europe, carrying with it a sense of strength, resilience, and nobility associated with its historical bearers.
People
Brienne + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Brienne 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
Brienne: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Brienne?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,439 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Brienne 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 238,189 US residents.
Is Brienne a common name?
We classify Brienne as "Rare". It ranks above 92.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,502 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Brienne most popular?
The single biggest year for Brienne was 1979, when 122 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Brienne is about 32 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Brienne in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,338 people with the name Brienne, or 0.44 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,094 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 Brienne 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 Brienne?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Brienne appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,339 people counted with this name, 99.3% 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 Brienne?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brienne is White at 77.2%. The next largest groups are Black (7.2%) and Two or More Races (6.7%). 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 Brienne most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Brienne in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.2% (1,033 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 Brienne in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Brienne a female name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Brienne 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 Brienne still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Brienne 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 Brienne 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 Brienne?
Want to know how many people have the name Brienne? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.