Brittain
Of Celtic origin, a bearer of the British name.
Name Census estimates that about 686 living Americans carry the first name Brittain. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 55.4% of registrations being male. The average person named Brittain today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Brittain births was 1991 (28 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Brittain. 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
686
~ 1 in 499,642 Americans
Peak year
1991
28 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2021 SSA rank
#10,992
Tracked since 1968
Gender
Gender distribution for Brittain
Brittain is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 706 total registrations, 391 (55.4%) were male and 315 (44.6%) were female.
Brittain as a male name
- Ranked #10,992 in 2021
- 6 male births in 2021
- Peak: 1990 (18 births)
Brittain as a female name
- Ranked #13,899 in 2022
- 6 female births in 2022
- Peak: 1981 (17 births)
Popularity
Brittain: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Brittain from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 191 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
Brittain 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 Brittain during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Brittain
The given name Brittain is derived from the Old English word "Bryten", which referred to the island of Great Britain. This name has its roots in the early medieval period, when the Anglo-Saxons settled in what is now England, Wales, and parts of Scotland.
The name Brittain is believed to have originated as a descriptive term for people who hailed from the island of Britain or were of British descent. It was likely used to distinguish them from those of Continental European or other backgrounds.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Brittain can be found in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a historical record compiled in the late 9th century. The chronicle mentions a figure named "Brittain" who was a nobleman during the reign of King Alfred the Great (849-899).
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Brittain remained relatively uncommon but was occasionally used among the nobility and upper classes in England. Notable individuals with this name include Sir Brittain de Bremmesgrave, a 13th-century knight who fought in the Crusades, and John Brittain, a 15th-century merchant and member of the Worshipful Company of Mercers in London.
During the Renaissance period, the name Brittain gained some popularity, particularly among the gentry and wealthy families who sought to emphasize their English heritage. One notable bearer of this name was Brittain Risdon (1548-1628), an English historian and topographer who wrote extensively about the history and geography of Devon.
In the 17th century, the name Brittain was associated with the English Civil War. Captain Brittain Elliot (1615-1648) was a Royalist officer who fought for King Charles I and was killed in battle during the conflict.
Another notable figure with the name Brittain was William Brittain (1809-1884), a 19th-century English artist and illustrator known for his landscape paintings and etchings of rural scenes.
While not as common as some other English names, Brittain has maintained a presence throughout history, often associated with individuals who embraced their British identity or had connections to the island nation.
People
Brittain + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Brittain 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
Brittain: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Brittain?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 686 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Brittain 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 499,642 US residents.
Is Brittain a common name?
We classify Brittain as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 706 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Brittain most popular?
The single biggest year for Brittain was 1991, when 28 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Brittain is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Brittain a male name?
Yes, 55.4% of people registered as Brittain 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.