Brigit
An Irish feminine name derived from the Celtic goddess of fire, poetry, and wisdom.
Name Census estimates that about 1,151 living Americans carry the first name Brigit. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Brigit today is around 38 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Brigit births was 1976 (46 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Brigit. 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 Brigit with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.2K
~ 1 in 297,788 Americans
Peak year
1976
46 babies that year
Average age
38
years old
2021 SSA rank
#15,664
Tracked since 1954
Census
Brigit in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,262 people with the first name Brigit, which placed it at #10,520 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
#10,520
National first-name rank
People counted
1.3K
1,262 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
77.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Brigit
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brigit is White at 77.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.0%) and Black (5.9%). 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 Brigit 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 Brigit at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White77.4% · 977
- Hispanic or Latino11.0% · 139
- Black or African American5.9% · 74
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.0% · 38
- Two or more races2.3% · 29
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 5
Popularity
Brigit: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Brigit from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 290 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Brigit 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 Brigit during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Brigits live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. California, New York, Illinois recorded the most babies named Brigit, while Texas, Illinois, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 26 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Brigit
The given name Brigit has its origins in the Celtic cultures of ancient Ireland and Britain. It is derived from the Old Irish Bríg or Brighid, meaning "exalted one" or "high one". The name is closely associated with the pre-Christian Celtic goddess of the same name, who was revered as the patroness of poetry, healing, and smithcraft.
Brigit was one of the most prominent deities in the pagan Celtic pantheon, and her name appears in numerous ancient Irish texts and manuscripts, including the Lebor Gabála Érenn (Book of the Taking of Ireland) and the Cath Maige Tuired (The Second Battle of Mag Tuired). The goddess was honored during the festival of Imbolc, celebrated on February 1st, marking the beginning of spring in the Celtic calendar.
In the 5th century AD, with the spread of Christianity in Ireland, the pagan goddess Brigit became associated with St. Brigid of Kildare, one of the patron saints of Ireland. St. Brigid (c. 451-525) is credited with founding several monasteries, including the famous Kildare Abbey, and is renowned for her generosity, compassion, and commitment to serving the poor and sick.
Throughout history, notable individuals bearing the name Brigit or its variants include Brigit of Sweden (c. 1303-1373), a renowned medieval mystic and religious writer; Bridget Downing (1490-1558), an English Catholic martyr executed during the reign of Queen Mary I; Brigitte de Pompadour (1734-1806), a French noblewoman and close friend of Marie Antoinette; and Brigid Brophy (1929-1995), an English novelist, critic, and feminist writer.
In modern times, the name Brigit has maintained its popularity, particularly in Ireland and other Celtic regions, as a connection to the rich cultural heritage and mythology of the ancient Celts. Its enduring appeal lies in its strong historical roots and associations with the revered goddess and saint, embodying themes of strength, creativity, and spirituality.
People
Brigit + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Brigit 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
Brigit: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Brigit?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,151 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Brigit 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 297,788 US residents.
Is Brigit a common name?
We classify Brigit as "Rare". It ranks above 91% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,238 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Brigit most popular?
The single biggest year for Brigit was 1976, when 46 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Brigit is about 38 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Brigit in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,262 people with the name Brigit, or 0.42 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,520 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 Brigit 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 Brigit?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Brigit appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,263 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Brigit?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brigit is White at 77.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.0%) and Black (5.9%). 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 Brigit most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Brigit in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.4% (977 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 Brigit in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Brigit a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Brigit 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 Brigit still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Brigit 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 Brigit 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 are called Brigit?
You can see how many Americans are named Brigit on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.