Britanny
Of English origin, meaning "from Brittany" the peninsula in France.
Name Census estimates that about 793 living Americans carry the first name Britanny. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Britanny today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Britanny births was 1990 (51 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Britanny. 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.
People living today
793
~ 1 in 432,225 Americans
Peak year
1990
51 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2024 SSA rank
#15,657
Tracked since 1982
Popularity
Britanny: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Britanny from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 240 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
Britanny 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 Britanny during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Britannys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. California, Texas, Arizona recorded the most babies named Britanny, while North Carolina, Arizona, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 33 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Britanny
The name Britanny has its origins tracing back to the Breton language, spoken in the region of Brittany in northwestern France. The name is derived from the Old Breton words "brizh" meaning "high" or "elevated" and "tan" meaning "fire" or "brilliance." Together, these words formed the name Briztan or Briztant, which eventually evolved into the modern spelling of Britanny.
During the Middle Ages, the name Britanny was associated with the Duchy of Brittany, a semi-independent feudal state that existed from the 9th to the 16th century. The name gained prominence as it was used by several Dukes and Duchesses of Brittany, including Duke Nominoe (819-851), who is considered the founder of the Breton state.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Britanny can be found in the 12th-century Latin chronicle "Historia Regum Britanniae" by Geoffrey of Monmouth. In this work, the author refers to the island of Britain as "Britannia," which may have influenced the evolution of the name Britanny.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Britanny. One famous bearer was Brittany, Duchess of Brittany (1199-1221), who ruled the Duchy of Brittany from 1213 until her death. Another was Britanny (or Britanny de Lamballe), a French princess and confidante of Queen Marie Antoinette, who was tragically killed during the French Revolution in 1792.
In the literary world, Britanny is also the name of a character in William Shakespeare's play "Cymbeline," where she is portrayed as the daughter of the titular king. Additionally, Britanny Spears, an American singer and actress born in 1981, has helped popularize the name in modern times.
Over the centuries, the name Britanny has been adapted and anglicized in various ways, leading to alternative spellings such as Brittany, Britney, and Brittney. However, the roots of the name can be traced back to the ancient Breton culture and its connection to the historical Duchy of Brittany.
People
Britanny + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Britanny 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
Britanny: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Britanny?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 793 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Britanny 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 432,225 US residents.
Is Britanny a common name?
We classify Britanny as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 817 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Britanny most popular?
The single biggest year for Britanny was 1990, when 51 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Britanny is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Britanny a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Britanny 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.
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.