Britania
Feminine name derived from the Latin word "Britannia," meaning "island of Britain."
Name Census estimates that about 119 living Americans carry the first name Britania. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Britania today is around 33 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Britania births was 2001 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Britania. 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 Britania with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
119
~ 1 in 2,880,289 Americans
Peak year
2001
16 babies that year
Average age
33
years old
2005 SSA rank
#13,249
Tracked since 1980
Census
Britania in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 230 people with the first name Britania, which placed it at #35,134 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
#35,134
National first-name rank
People counted
230
230 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
48.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Britania
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Britania is Hispanic at 48.7%. The next largest groups are Black (31.7%) and White (17.0%). 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 Britania 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 Britania at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino48.7% · 112
- Black or African American31.7% · 73
- White17.0% · 39
- Two or more races1.7% · 4
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 2
Popularity
Britania: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Britania from the 1980s through to the 2000s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 48 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
Britania 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 Britania during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Britanias live
Origin
Meaning and history of Britania
The name Britania finds its origins in the Latin word "Britannia," which was the Roman name for the island of Great Britain. This name is believed to have derived from the Celtic term "Pretani," referring to the ancient Celtic inhabitants of the island.
During the Roman conquest of Britain in the 1st century AD, the name Britannia became widely used to refer to the conquered territories. It was commonly found inscribed on Roman coins, monuments, and historical records from that era, cementing its association with the island.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Britania appears in the writings of the Roman historian Tacitus, who documented the Roman campaigns in Britain in his work "Agricola," written around 98 AD. Tacitus referred to the island as "Britannia insula" or "the island of Britain."
In the 2nd century AD, the Greek geographer Ptolemy also made references to "Britannia" in his influential work "Geographia," further solidifying the name's association with the island.
Throughout history, the name Britania has been borne by several notable individuals, including:
1. Britania Felix (fl. 4th century AD), a Romano-British philosopher and writer who lived during the declining years of Roman Britain.
2. Britania Aureliana (fl. 5th century AD), a Romano-British woman who gained fame for her beauty and was celebrated in poetry by the Latin writer Sidonius Apollinaris.
3. Britania Victrix (fl. 6th century AD), a legendary British warrior queen who is said to have led her people against Saxon invaders, though her historical existence is debated.
4. Britania Rufina (fl. 7th century AD), a British abbess and scholar who is believed to have authored several religious texts during the early medieval period.
5. Britania Chrysostoma (fl. 9th century AD), a renowned Anglo-Saxon scholar and poet who was celebrated for her eloquence and learning.
While the name Britania fell out of common usage for several centuries, it experienced a resurgence in popularity during the 18th and 19th centuries, as patriotic sentiment and pride in Britain's historical legacy grew. During this period, the name was often bestowed as a symbolic representation of national identity and allegiance to the British Empire.
People
Britania + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Britania 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
Britania: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Britania?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 119 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Britania 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 2,880,289 US residents.
Is Britania a common name?
We classify Britania as "Very Rare". It ranks above 67.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 124 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Britania most popular?
The single biggest year for Britania was 2001, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Britania is about 33 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Britania in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 230 people with the name Britania, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #35,134 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 Britania 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 Britania?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Britania appears almost entirely female. Of the 229 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Britania?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Britania is Hispanic at 48.7%. The next largest groups are Black (31.7%) and White (17.0%). 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 Britania most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Britania in the 2020 Census, accounting for 48.7% (112 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 Britania in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Britania a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Britania 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 Britania still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Britania 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 Britania 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 Britania?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.