Brier
A Celtic name meaning "thorny prickle" or "sharp, prickly plant".
Name Census estimates that about 903 living Americans carry the first name Brier. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 63.9% of registrations being male. The average person named Brier today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Brier births was 2016 (45 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Brier. 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 Brier with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
903
~ 1 in 379,573 Americans
Peak year
2016
45 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,205
Tracked since 1989
Census
Brier in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 792 people with the first name Brier, which placed it at #14,765 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
#14,765
National first-name rank
People counted
792
792 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
87.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Brier
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brier is White at 87.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.5%) and Hispanic (3.4%). 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 Brier 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 Brier at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White87.8% · 695
- Two or more races4.5% · 36
- Hispanic or Latino3.4% · 27
- Black or African American2.7% · 21
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 9
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Brier
Brier is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 914 total registrations, 584 (63.9%) were male and 330 (36.1%) were female.
Brier as a male name
- Ranked #6,205 in 2024
- 14 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2016 (32 births)
Brier as a female name
- Ranked #11,253 in 2024
- 8 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2018 (20 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Brier on both sides of the split. Of the 784 people counted with this name, 476 were male (60.7%) and 308 were female (39.3%).
Popularity
Brier: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Brier from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 371 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Brier remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Brier 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 Brier during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Briers live
Origin
Meaning and history of Brier
The name Brier has its origins in Old English, derived from the word "bræ̆r," which means briar or bramble bush. This name was likely given to individuals who lived near or worked with these prickly shrubs, which were commonly found in the British Isles during the Middle Ages.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Brier can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, where a landowner named Brier is mentioned in the county of Somerset, England. This historical record suggests that the name was in use as early as the 11th century.
In the 13th century, a Franciscan friar named Brier of Stratford gained recognition for his contributions to the study of theology and philosophy. He was widely respected for his scholarly works and teachings, which influenced the intellectual discourse of the time.
During the Renaissance period, a notable figure named Brier Tuck emerged in the legendary tales of Robin Hood. Brier Tuck was depicted as a jovial and portly friar who accompanied Robin and his merry men in their adventures in Sherwood Forest.
In the 17th century, Brier Dudley (1576-1639) was a prominent English jurist and politician who served as Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer. He was known for his expertise in legal matters and his contributions to the development of English common law.
Another noteworthy individual bearing the name Brier was Brier Rabbit, a mischievous and cunning character from the folktales of the African-American community. These stories, which originated during the era of slavery, often featured Brier Rabbit outsmarting larger and more powerful adversaries through his wit and trickery.
While the name Brier has retained its historical roots and associations with nature and folklore, it has become less common in modern times. However, its unique and distinctive character continues to evoke a sense of rustic charm and a connection to the natural world.
People
Brier + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Brier 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
Brier: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Brier?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 903 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Brier 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 379,573 US residents.
Is Brier a common name?
We classify Brier as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 914 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Brier most popular?
The single biggest year for Brier was 2016, when 45 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Brier is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Brier in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 792 people with the name Brier, or 0.26 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,765 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 Brier 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 Brier?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Brier on both sides of the split. Of the 784 people counted with this name, 476 were male (60.7%) and 308 were female (39.3%). 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 Brier?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brier is White at 87.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.5%) and Hispanic (3.4%). 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 Brier most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Brier in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.8% (695 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 Brier in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Brier a male name?
Yes, 63.9% of people registered as Brier in the SSA data are male. 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 Brier still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Brier 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 Brier 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 Brier?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.