Bryam
A Latin origin name possibly derived from the word "brio" meaning vigor.
Name Census estimates that about 72 living Americans carry the first name Bryam. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Bryam today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bryam births was 1990 (9 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bryam. 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
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Bryam. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
72
~ 1 in 4,760,477 Americans
Peak year
1990
9 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2011 SSA rank
#9,763
Tracked since 1990
Census
Bryam in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 390 people with the first name Bryam, which placed it at #24,620 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
#24,620
National first-name rank
People counted
390
390 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
84.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bryam
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bryam is Hispanic at 84.9%. The next largest groups are White (12.1%) and Black (1.8%). 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 Bryam 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 Bryam at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino84.9% · 331
- White12.1% · 47
- Black or African American1.8% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 2
- Two or more races0.5% · 2
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 1
Popularity
Bryam: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bryam from the 1990s through to the 2010s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 41 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Bryam 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 Bryam 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 Bryam
The given name Bryam is a relatively uncommon name with origins that can be traced back to the ancient Brythonic cultures of the British Isles. It is believed to have derived from the Celtic root word "bry," which means "hill" or "elevated land." This suggests that the name may have been associated with individuals who lived in hilly or mountainous regions.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Bryam can be found in the Annales Cambriae, a medieval Welsh chronicle dating back to the 10th century. Here, the name appears as "Briam," which is likely a variant spelling. This indicates that the name has been in use for at least a thousand years, though its precise origins may date back even further.
In terms of historical figures bearing the name Bryam, records are scarce, but a few notable individuals can be mentioned. In the 12th century, there was Bryam de Insula, a Norman knight who fought in the Third Crusade under Richard the Lionheart. Another Bryam, known as Bryam de Montfort, was a 13th-century nobleman and landowner in Warwickshire, England.
Moving forward in time, one of the more prominent individuals with the name Bryam was Sir Bryam Tuke, a 16th-century English courtier and diplomat who served under King Henry VIII. He played a significant role in the dissolution of the monasteries and was appointed as the Clerk of the Green Cloth in 1537.
In the 17th century, Bryam Norwood was an English mathematician and polymath who made contributions to the fields of surveying and navigation. He was also a proponent of the Baconian philosophy and published several works on mathematics and natural philosophy.
Another notable figure was Bryam Martyn, a British naval officer who served during the American Revolutionary War. He commanded various ships in the Royal Navy and was involved in several naval engagements against the American and French forces in the late 18th century.
While the name Bryam has remained relatively uncommon throughout history, it has been carried by individuals from various walks of life, including knights, noblemen, courtiers, mathematicians, and naval officers. Despite its rarity, the name has managed to endure over the centuries, perhaps due to its connection to the ancient Celtic cultures of the British Isles.
People
Bryam + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bryam 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
Bryam: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bryam?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 72 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bryam 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 4,760,477 US residents.
Is Bryam a common name?
We classify Bryam as "Very Rare". It ranks above 59.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 73 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bryam most popular?
The single biggest year for Bryam was 1990, when 9 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bryam is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bryam in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 390 people with the name Bryam, or 0.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #24,620 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 Bryam 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 Bryam?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bryam appears almost entirely male. Of the 383 people counted with this name, 100.0% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Bryam?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bryam is Hispanic at 84.9%. The next largest groups are White (12.1%) and Black (1.8%). 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 Bryam most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Bryam in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.9% (331 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 Bryam in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bryam a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Bryam 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.
Is Bryam still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bryam 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 Bryam 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 people are called Bryam?
You can see how many Americans are named Bryam on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.