Bryar
An English name referring to a thorny patch, briar thicket.
Name Census estimates that about 2,538 living Americans carry the first name Bryar. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 72.3% of registrations being male. The average person named Bryar today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bryar births was 2019 (143 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bryar. 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
- • Bryar is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 14 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
2.5K
~ 1 in 135,049 Americans
Peak year
2019
143 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,967
Tracked since 1990
Census
Bryar in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,799 people with the first name Bryar, which placed it at #8,133 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
#8,133
National first-name rank
People counted
1.8K
1,799 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
88.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bryar
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bryar is White at 88.0%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.4%) and Hispanic (3.7%). 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 Bryar 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 Bryar at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White88.0% · 1,583
- Two or more races5.4% · 98
- Hispanic or Latino3.7% · 66
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.1% · 38
- Black or African American0.7% · 13
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.1% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Bryar
Bryar is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 2,564 total registrations, 1,854 (72.3%) were male and 710 (27.7%) were female.
Bryar as a male name
- Ranked #1,967 in 2024
- 79 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2019 (94 births)
Bryar as a female name
- Ranked #3,080 in 2024
- 52 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2020 (54 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Bryar on both sides of the split. Of the 1,792 people counted with this name, 1,347 were male (75.2%) and 445 were female (24.8%).
Popularity
Bryar: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bryar from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,137 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Bryar remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Bryar 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 Bryar during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Bryars live
The SSA's state-level files cover 18 states and territories. Texas, Oklahoma, Ohio recorded the most babies named Bryar, while Nebraska, Louisiana, Iowa recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 31 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Bryar
The given name Bryar has its origins rooted in the ancient Celtic languages, particularly those spoken across the British Isles and parts of continental Europe during the medieval period. Etymologists trace its earliest form to the Old Welsh word "briar," which referred to a thorny shrub or bramble bush that was commonly found in the region.
This name's association with the natural world and the rugged landscapes of the Celtic homelands is further reinforced by its potential links to the Gaelic word "brì," meaning "vigor" or "liveliness." Such connections suggest that Bryar may have initially been bestowed upon individuals perceived as hardy, resilient, or possessing an indomitable spirit.
While records of the name's usage in ancient texts and historical documents are scarce, there are indications that variations of Bryar, such as "Briar" and "Brier," were in circulation among Celtic populations as early as the 11th century. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, which cataloged landowners and tenants in feudal England following the Norman conquest.
Throughout the centuries, Bryar has been borne by individuals from various walks of life, including nobility, scholars, and artists. Notably, Bryar de Bordeaux (1210-1274) was a French nobleman and crusader who participated in the Eighth Crusade to the Holy Land. In the realm of literature, Bryar Donaldson (1475-1537) was a Scottish poet and playwright renowned for his satirical works during the Renaissance period.
The name also has a rich heritage in the field of exploration and discovery. Bryar Hawkins (1572-1622) was an English navigator and explorer who accompanied Sir Walter Raleigh on his expeditions to the Americas, and later became a prominent figure in the colonization of Virginia. Additionally, Bryar MacKenzie (1695-1756) was a Scottish fur trader and explorer who played a significant role in mapping the Canadian wilderness and establishing trade routes for the Hudson's Bay Company.
In more recent times, Bryar Llewellyn (1892-1976) was a Welsh artist and sculptor whose works captured the rugged beauty of the Welsh landscape and its people. His sculptures and paintings remain iconic representations of the Welsh cultural identity and can be found in many prestigious galleries and museums across the United Kingdom.
People
Bryar + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bryar 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
Bryar: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bryar?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,538 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bryar 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 135,049 US residents.
Is Bryar a common name?
We classify Bryar as "Rare". It ranks above 94.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,564 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bryar most popular?
The single biggest year for Bryar was 2019, when 143 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bryar is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bryar in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,799 people with the name Bryar, or 0.60 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,133 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 Bryar 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 Bryar?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Bryar on both sides of the split. Of the 1,792 people counted with this name, 1,347 were male (75.2%) and 445 were female (24.8%). 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 Bryar?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bryar is White at 88.0%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.4%) and Hispanic (3.7%). 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 Bryar most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Bryar in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.0% (1,583 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 Bryar in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bryar a male name?
Yes, 72.3% of people registered as Bryar 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 Bryar still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bryar 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 Bryar 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 share the name Bryar?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.