Britt
An ancient English feminine name derived from the Old Norse "britt", meaning "strong" or "unwavering".
Name Census estimates that about 6,687 living Americans carry the first name Britt. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 61.8% of registrations being male. The average person named Britt today is around 48 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Britt births was 1970 (249 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Britt. 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.
Key insights
- • Britt sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
People living today
6.7K
~ 1 in 51,257 Americans
Peak year
1970
249 babies that year
Average age
48
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,075
Tracked since 1886
Gender
Gender distribution for Britt
Britt is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 7,625 total registrations, 4,710 (61.8%) were male and 2,915 (38.2%) were female.
Britt as a male name
- Ranked #5,075 in 2024
- 19 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1960 (142 births)
Britt as a female name
- Ranked #13,730 in 2024
- 6 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1973 (142 births)
Popularity
Britt: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Britt from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 2,000 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Britt 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 Britt during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Britts live
The SSA's state-level files cover 34 states and territories. Texas, California, Illinois recorded the most babies named Britt, while Oklahoma, Kentucky, West Virginia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 80 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Britt
The name Britt is a diminutive form of the name Britta, which is a feminine given name of Old Norse origin. The name Britta is derived from the Old Norse word "bryti," meaning "settler" or "one who clears land." It is believed to have originated in Scandinavia during the Viking Age, when Norse settlers were actively colonizing new lands.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Britt date back to the Middle Ages in Scandinavia. One notable historical figure who bore this name was Britt Klara Carlsdotter, a Swedish woman born in 1736 who became a renowned artist and painter during the Age of Liberty in Sweden.
In the English-speaking world, the name Britt gained popularity as a shortened version of the name Brittany, which is derived from the name of the French region of Brittany. The name Brittany itself is believed to have its roots in the Brythonic Celtic language spoken by the ancient Britons.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Britt was Britt Bailey, an American actress and singer born in 1923. She appeared in numerous films and television shows throughout the mid-20th century.
Another notable figure was Britt Ekland, a Swedish actress and model born in 1942. She gained international fame for her roles in various films, including The Wicker Man and The Man with the Golden Gun.
Britt Allcroft, born in 1943, is a British writer, filmmaker, and entrepreneur best known for creating the beloved children's television series Thomas & Friends, based on the Railway Series books by Reverend W. Awdry.
Britt Johansson, a Swedish tennis player born in 1968, achieved success on the professional circuit, reaching a career-high ranking of No. 7 in the world in 1993 and winning six singles titles on the WTA Tour.
Lastly, Britt Robertson, an American actress born in 1990, has gained recognition for her roles in various films and television series, including Tomorrowland, The Space Between Us, and For the People.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Britt
People
Britt + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Britt 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
Britt: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Britt?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6,687 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Britt 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 51,257 US residents.
Is Britt a common name?
We classify Britt as "Rare". It ranks above 97.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 7,625 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Britt most popular?
The single biggest year for Britt was 1970, when 249 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Britt is about 48 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Britt a male name?
Yes, 61.8% of people registered as Britt in the SSA data are male. 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.