Brittin
A feminine name of English origin, pertaining to the Britons or Britain.
Name Census estimates that about 330 living Americans carry the first name Brittin. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 66.8% of registrations being female. The average person named Brittin today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Brittin births was 1990 (21 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Brittin. 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
330
~ 1 in 1,038,650 Americans
Peak year
1990
21 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2012 SSA rank
#10,984
Tracked since 1970
Census
Brittin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 408 people with the first name Brittin, which placed it at #23,859 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
#23,859
National first-name rank
People counted
408
408 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
82.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Brittin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brittin is White at 82.4%. The next largest groups are Black (8.3%) and Two or More Races (4.2%). 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 Brittin 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 Brittin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White82.4% · 336
- Black or African American8.3% · 34
- Two or more races4.2% · 17
- Hispanic or Latino3.7% · 15
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Brittin
Brittin is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 340 total registrations, 113 (33.2%) were male and 227 (66.8%) were female.
Brittin as a male name
- Ranked #10,984 in 2012
- 6 male births in 2012
- Peak: 2007 (12 births)
Brittin as a female name
- Ranked #15,963 in 2019
- 5 female births in 2019
- Peak: 2006 (12 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Brittin on both sides of the split. Of the 406 people counted with this name, 156 were male (38.4%) and 250 were female (61.6%).
Popularity
Brittin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Brittin from the 1970s through to the 2010s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 109 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Brittin remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Brittin 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 Brittin 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 Brittin
The given name Brittin traces its origins to the ancient Celtic language spoken by the Britons, a group of people who inhabited the island of Great Britain during the Iron Age and Roman period. The name is derived from the word "Brith," which means "speckled" or "painted," referring to the practice of the ancient Britons adorning their bodies with tattoos or woad dye.
The earliest known use of the name Brittin can be found in ancient Roman records, where it was used to refer to the indigenous inhabitants of the British Isles. One of the earliest recorded individuals with this name was Brittin ap Gwrgan, a Welsh prince who lived in the 6th century AD and played a significant role in the defense of his kingdom against Anglo-Saxon invaders.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Brittin remained relatively uncommon, but it gained some popularity among Welsh and English families with Celtic roots. One notable bearer of this name was Brittin Tudor, a 15th-century Welsh nobleman who served as a member of the court of King Henry VII of England.
In the 17th century, the name Brittin appeared in the historical records of the American colonies, where it was often adopted by families of English or Welsh descent. One such individual was Brittin Gwinnett, born in 1735, who became a prominent figure in the American Revolutionary War and served as a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
As the centuries passed, the name Brittin continued to be used sporadically, often in areas with strong Celtic cultural influences. In the 19th century, a notable bearer of this name was Brittin Roberts, a Welsh poet and minister who lived from 1810 to 1888 and made significant contributions to the preservation of Welsh literature and language.
Another notable figure with the name Brittin was Brittin Chance, an American jazz musician and composer born in 1927. He was known for his innovative approaches to jazz and worked with many legendary artists throughout his career, which spanned several decades until his death in 2020.
While the name Brittin has remained relatively uncommon in modern times, it continues to carry a rich historical legacy and a connection to the ancient Celtic cultures of the British Isles. Its unique origin and meaning have made it a distinct and intriguing choice for those seeking a name with a strong cultural heritage.
People
Brittin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Brittin 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
Brittin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Brittin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 330 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Brittin 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 1,038,650 US residents.
Is Brittin a common name?
We classify Brittin as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 340 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Brittin most popular?
The single biggest year for Brittin was 1990, when 21 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Brittin is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Brittin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 408 people with the name Brittin, or 0.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #23,859 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 Brittin 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 Brittin?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Brittin on both sides of the split. Of the 406 people counted with this name, 156 were male (38.4%) and 250 were female (61.6%). 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 Brittin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brittin is White at 82.4%. The next largest groups are Black (8.3%) and Two or More Races (4.2%). 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 Brittin most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Brittin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.4% (336 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 Brittin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Brittin a female name?
Yes, 66.8% of people registered as Brittin 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 Brittin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Brittin 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 Brittin 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 Brittin?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.