British
A name of English origin referring to an inhabitant of Great Britain.
Name Census estimates that about 316 living Americans carry the first name British. It is a predominantly female name (90.5% of registrations). The average person named British today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of British births was 1989 (21 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for British. 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
316
~ 1 in 1,084,666 Americans
Peak year
1989
21 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2020 SSA rank
#12,304
Tracked since 1969
Gender
Gender distribution for British
British leans heavily female at 90.5% of total registrations, but 31 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
British as a male name
- Ranked #12,304 in 2020
- 5 male births in 2020
- Peak: 1989 (6 births)
British as a female name
- Ranked #13,729 in 2024
- 6 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2015 (21 births)
Popularity
British: popularity over time
The SSA tracks British from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 108 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, British remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
British 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 British during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Britishs live
Origin
Meaning and history of British
British is not a traditional given name derived from any specific language or culture. It is an English word that refers to someone or something associated with the island of Great Britain or the United Kingdom. As such, there is no known historical origin or etymology for British as a personal name.
The word British itself comes from the ancient Celtic term Pritani or Pretani, which was used to describe the inhabitants of the British Isles. This term was later adopted by the Romans, who referred to the islands as Britannia. Over time, the word evolved into its modern English form, British.
While British is not a traditional given name, there have been a few notable individuals throughout history who have been known by this moniker. One example is British Bulldog, the ring name of wrestler Davey Boy Smith (1962-2002), who was born in Golborne, England.
Another individual known as British was British Wogan (1925-2016), a British television presenter and broadcaster best known for his work on BBC Radio 2 and his long-running chat show Wogan.
In the realm of sports, British Batchelor (1896-1978) was a British tennis player who competed in the early 20th century and was a member of the British Davis Cup team.
British N'yo (born 1984) is a British-Cameroonian professional basketball player who has played in several European leagues and represented Great Britain's national team.
British Xena (born 1989) is a British drag queen and reality television personality who appeared on the first season of RuPaul's Drag Race UK in 2019.
It is worth noting that while these individuals were known by the moniker British, it is unlikely that this was their legal given name at birth. Rather, it was likely a nickname or stage name adopted later in life to reflect their British heritage or association with the United Kingdom.
People
British + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with British 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
British: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named British?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 316 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for British 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 1,084,666 US residents.
Is British a common name?
We classify British as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 325 babies have been registered with this name.
When was British most popular?
The single biggest year for British was 1989, when 21 babies received the name. The fact that the average living British is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is British a female name?
Yes, 90.5% of people registered as British 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.