Bryan
From an Irish surname meaning "descendant of the high or noble one".
Name Census estimates that about 361,394 living Americans carry the first name Bryan. It sits at #305 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Bryan today is around 40 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bryan births was 1985 (8,788 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bryan. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Bryan with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Bryan is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 1,717 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
361K
~ 1 in 948 Americans
Peak year
1985
8,788 babies that year
Average age
40
years old
2024 SSA rank
#305
Tracked since 1883
Census
Bryan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 327,372 people with the first name Bryan, which placed it at #156 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
#156
National first-name rank
People counted
327K
327,372 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
108.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
63.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bryan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bryan is White at 63.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (23.4%) and Black (6.7%). 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 Bryan 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 Bryan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White63.3% · 207,327
- Hispanic or Latino23.4% · 76,498
- Black or African American6.7% · 22,037
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.3% · 10,885
- Two or more races2.6% · 8,616
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 2,009
Gender
Gender distribution for Bryan
Out of the 390,298 babies given the name Bryan since 1880, 99.6% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Bryan as a male name
- Ranked #305 in 2024
- 1,105 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1985 (8,717 births)
Bryan as a female name
- Ranked #15,676 in 2021
- 5 female births in 2021
- Peak: 1985 (71 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bryan appears almost entirely male. Of the 327,372 people counted with this name, 99.8% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Bryan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bryan from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 81,083 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Bryan 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 Bryan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Bryans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Bryan, while Vermont, Wyoming, Alaska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 7,562 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Bryan
The name Bryan is an English given name derived from the Old Celtic Brythonic word "brico" or "bricco", meaning "speckled" or "freckled". It is thought to have originated as a nickname for someone with a freckled complexion. The name was first recorded in England in the 11th century during the Norman Conquest.
The earliest known bearer of the name Bryan was Brian Boru, an Irish king who reigned from 1002 to 1014 CE. He is renowned for driving the Vikings out of Ireland and establishing himself as the High King of Ireland. The name Brian is a variation of Bryan, which later became more popular in England due to the Norman influence.
One of the most famous historical figures with the name Bryan was Bryan Falvier, a French knight and crusader who fought in the Third Crusade in the late 12th century. He was known for his bravery and skill in battle and is mentioned in several chronicles from that time.
Another notable bearer of the name was Bryan Fitzpatrick, an Irish chieftain who lived in the 14th century. He was the Lord of Ossory and played a significant role in the conflicts between the Irish clans and the Anglo-Norman settlers in Ireland during that period.
In the 15th century, Bryan Roche, an Irish-Norman nobleman and soldier, was a prominent figure in the Wars of the Roses in England. He fought for the House of York and was killed in the Battle of Wakefield in 1460.
Moving forward to the 16th century, Bryan Annesley was an English lawyer and politician who served as the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal under King Charles I. He played an important role in the political struggles leading up to the English Civil War.
These are just a few examples of historical figures who bore the name Bryan. The name has a rich history and has been used across various cultures and time periods, reflecting its enduring popularity and significance.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Bryan
People
Bryan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bryan 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
Bryan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bryan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 361,394 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bryan 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 948 US residents.
Is Bryan a common name?
We classify Bryan as "Common". It ranks above 99.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 390,298 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bryan most popular?
The single biggest year for Bryan was 1985, when 8,788 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bryan is about 40 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bryan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 327,372 people with the name Bryan, or 108.39 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #156 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 Bryan 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 Bryan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bryan appears almost entirely male. Of the 327,372 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Bryan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bryan is White at 63.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (23.4%) and Black (6.7%). 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 Bryan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Bryan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.3% (207,327 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 Bryan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bryan a male name?
Yes, 99.6% of people registered as Bryan 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 Bryan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bryan 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 Bryan 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 have the name Bryan?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.