Britani
Meaning uncertain, probably derived from ancient Celtic or Brittonic origin.
Name Census estimates that about 1,359 living Americans carry the first name Britani. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Britani today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Britani births was 1989 (113 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Britani. 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 Britani with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.4K
~ 1 in 252,211 Americans
Peak year
1989
113 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2024 SSA rank
#13,728
Tracked since 1975
Census
Britani in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,173 people with the first name Britani, which placed it at #11,087 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
#11,087
National first-name rank
People counted
1.2K
1,173 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
57.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Britani
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Britani is White at 57.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (24.2%) and Black (12.8%). 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 Britani 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 Britani at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White57.2% · 671
- Hispanic or Latino24.2% · 284
- Black or African American12.8% · 150
- Two or more races4.9% · 58
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 1
Popularity
Britani: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Britani from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 595 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
Britani 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 Britani during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Britanis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 9 states and territories. California, Texas, Ohio recorded the most babies named Britani, while New York, North Carolina, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 36 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Britani
The name Britani is derived from the ancient Celtic word "Brittani" or "Pritani," which referred to the inhabitants of the British Isles. This word is believed to have originated from the Proto-Celtic root "*brit-," meaning "to divide" or "to mark," possibly referring to the division of the island from the mainland.
The earliest recorded use of the name Britani can be traced back to ancient Roman texts, where it was used to refer to the people and the island itself. One of the earliest known references is in the writings of the Greek explorer Pytheas, who visited the British Isles around 325 BCE and referred to the island as "Prettanike."
In the 1st century CE, the Roman historian Tacitus wrote extensively about the Britons and their resistance against Roman conquest. He referred to them as the "Britanni" in his work "Agricola." The name was also mentioned in other Roman texts, such as Ptolemy's "Geographia" and the Antonine Itinerary.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Britani. One of the earliest was Boudicca, also known as Boudica or Bunduca, who was a Celtic queen of the Iceni tribe in present-day Norfolk, England. She led a famous revolt against the Roman occupation in 60-61 CE.
Another notable Britani was Saint Britani, a Welsh princess and Christian martyr who lived in the 6th century CE. She is said to have been killed by pagan Saxons for refusing to renounce her faith.
In the Middle Ages, there was Britani ferch Llywelyn, a Welsh princess who lived in the 13th century and was the daughter of Llywelyn the Great, the Prince of Gwynedd.
During the Renaissance period, Britani Bacon was an English writer and philosopher who lived from 1561 to 1626. She is known for her works on natural philosophy and her contributions to the scientific revolution.
In more recent times, Britani Norwood was an American singer and actress who lived from 1981 to 2002. She rose to fame as a member of the girl group Dream and appeared in various television shows and films.
People
Britani + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Britani 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
Britani: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Britani?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,359 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Britani 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 252,211 US residents.
Is Britani a common name?
We classify Britani as "Rare". It ranks above 91.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,409 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Britani most popular?
The single biggest year for Britani was 1989, when 113 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Britani is about 31 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Britani in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,173 people with the name Britani, or 0.39 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,087 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 Britani 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 Britani?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Britani appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,179 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Britani?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Britani is White at 57.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (24.2%) and Black (12.8%). 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 Britani most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Britani in the 2020 Census, accounting for 57.2% (671 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 Britani in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Britani a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Britani 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 Britani still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Britani 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 Britani 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 Britani?
Want to know how many people share the name Britani? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.