Brydon
English given name originating from an Old English surname meaning "town on a hill".
Name Census estimates that about 528 living Americans carry the first name Brydon. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Brydon today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Brydon births was 2014 (34 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Brydon. 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
528
~ 1 in 649,156 Americans
Peak year
2014
34 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#12,581
Tracked since 1991
Popularity
Brydon: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Brydon 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 227 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Brydon 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 Brydon during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Brydons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Ohio, California, Texas recorded the most babies named Brydon, while Texas, California, Ohio recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 6 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Brydon
The name Brydon is of English origin, derived from the Old English words "bry" and "dun," which together mean "hill dweller" or "one who lives on a hill." This name has its roots in the Anglo-Saxon culture of the early medieval period in England, around the 5th to 11th centuries.
Brydon was primarily used as a surname in its early history, with records of the name appearing in various English parishes and counties from the 13th century onwards. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name is found in the Hundredorum Rolls of 1273, which mentions a Willelmus de Brydon in Lincolnshire.
As a given name, Brydon first gained popularity in the 18th and 19th centuries, particularly in Scotland and Northern England. One of the earliest recorded individuals with the first name Brydon was Brydon Traherne, a Welsh author and scholar born in 1782.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Brydon. In the 19th century, Brydon Nicholson (1818-1875) was a British soldier who served in the First Anglo-Afghan War and was instrumental in the defense of Jalalabad. Another notable bearer of the name was Brydon Coverdale (1856-1936), an English cricketer who played for Yorkshire and England in the late 19th century.
In the 20th century, Brydon Baker (1913-2002) was a British author and journalist who wrote extensively on nature and wildlife. Brydon Parnell (1922-2012) was a New Zealand cricketer who played for the national team in the 1940s and later became a cricket administrator.
Additionally, Brydon Coverdale (1936-2013) was an Australian actor and playwright, known for his work in television and theatre productions. He was a recipient of the Order of Australia for his contributions to the arts.
While the name Brydon is not extremely common, it has maintained a presence throughout history, particularly in the British Isles and countries with strong historical ties to England and Scotland.
People
Brydon + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Brydon 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
Brydon: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Brydon?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 528 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Brydon 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 649,156 US residents.
Is Brydon a common name?
We classify Brydon as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 534 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Brydon most popular?
The single biggest year for Brydon was 2014, when 34 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Brydon is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Brydon a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Brydon 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.