Briggs
Of English origin, stemming from a geographical location name and denoting a bridge.
Name Census estimates that about 8,449 living Americans carry the first name Briggs. It sits at #326 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (98.9% of registrations). The average person named Briggs today is around 9 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Briggs births was 2024 (1,069 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Briggs. 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.
Key insights
- • Although Briggs is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 90 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Briggs is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 9 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
8.4K
~ 1 in 40,567 Americans
Peak year
2024
1,069 babies that year
Average age
9
years old
2024 SSA rank
#326
Tracked since 1927
Gender
Gender distribution for Briggs
Briggs leans heavily male at 98.9% of total registrations, but 90 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Briggs as a male name
- Ranked #326 in 2024
- 1,057 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (1,057 births)
Briggs as a female name
- Ranked #8,513 in 2024
- 12 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (15 births)
Popularity
Briggs: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Briggs from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 4,465 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Briggs 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 Briggs during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Briggs' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 40 states and territories. Texas, Utah, Minnesota recorded the most babies named Briggs, while Connecticut, Wyoming, Nevada recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 180 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Briggs
The name Briggs is an English surname that originated as a patronymic, meaning "son of Brigg." The name Brigg is derived from the Old Norse word "bryggja," which means "bridge" or "jetty." This suggests that the name may have been given to someone who lived near a bridge or worked as a bridge builder or toll collector.
The earliest known record of the name Briggs as a given name dates back to the late 16th century. One of the earliest recorded individuals with this first name was Henry Briggs, a prominent English mathematician and geometer who lived from 1561 to 1630. He is best known for his work on logarithms and for introducing the modern decimal notation for logarithms.
Another notable figure with the name Briggs was Charles Augustus Briggs, an American Presbyterian scholar who lived from 1841 to 1913. He was a prominent Bible scholar and one of the founders of the American Society of Church History. Briggs played a significant role in the higher criticism of the Bible and faced charges of heresy for his views on biblical inerrancy.
Briggs Cunningham, born in 1907 and died in 2003, was an American entrepreneur, sportsman, and race car constructor. He was a pioneer in the field of sports car racing and was instrumental in bringing European-style road racing to the United States. Cunningham's racing team, Briggs Cunningham Racing, competed in numerous prestigious events, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
In the field of literature, Briggs Tanner was an American author and journalist who lived from 1911 to 1978. He is best known for his novel "The Circle of the Day," which was published in 1956 and received critical acclaim for its portrayal of small-town life in the American South.
Another individual with the name Briggs was Cyril Briggs, an Australian artist and illustrator who lived from 1888 to 1966. He is renowned for his illustrations of Australian flora and fauna, particularly his depictions of native wildflowers, which earned him widespread recognition and appreciation.
While the name Briggs is not as common as some other given names, it has been carried by several notable individuals throughout history, particularly in the fields of mathematics, academia, sports, and the arts.
People
Briggs + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Briggs 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
Briggs: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Briggs?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 8,449 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Briggs 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 40,567 US residents.
Is Briggs a common name?
We classify Briggs as "Rare". It ranks above 97.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 8,542 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Briggs most popular?
The single biggest year for Briggs was 2024, when 1,069 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Briggs is about 9 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Briggs a male name?
Yes, 98.9% of people registered as Briggs 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.
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.