Brynley
A Welsh name meaning "from the fair hill or glade".
Name Census estimates that about 3,201 living Americans carry the first name Brynley. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Brynley today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Brynley births was 2017 (219 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Brynley. 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
- • Brynley is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 11 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
3.2K
~ 1 in 107,077 Americans
Peak year
2017
219 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,272
Tracked since 1992
Popularity
Brynley: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Brynley 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 1,909 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Brynley remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Brynley 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 Brynley during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Brynleys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 36 states and territories. Texas, Pennsylvania, California recorded the most babies named Brynley, while West Virginia, South Carolina, Nevada recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 57 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Brynley
The given name Brynley originates from the Welsh language and culture. It is a relatively modern name, with its origins traced back to the late 19th century. Brynley is a combination of the Welsh words "bryn," meaning hill or mound, and "ley," a suffix derived from the word "rhos," meaning meadow or marsh.
While the name itself may not have ancient historical references, its components can be found in various Welsh place names and surnames. For instance, the name "Brynley" bears resemblance to the name of the village "Brynley" in Flintshire, Wales, which likely contributed to the name's popularity.
The earliest recorded use of the name Brynley dates back to the late 1800s. One of the earliest known individuals with this name was Brynley Francis Newton (1853-1912), a Welsh architect and surveyor who designed several notable buildings in Wales during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Another noteworthy figure was Brynley Roberts (1912-1997), a Welsh rugby union player who represented Wales in the 1930s and later became a renowned commentator and broadcaster for the BBC.
In the literary world, Brynley F. Roberts (1857-1949) was a Welsh novelist, poet, and editor who played a significant role in the Welsh literary renaissance of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Brynley Wilcox (1880-1958) was a Welsh footballer who played as a forward for several clubs, including Cardiff City and Wolverhampton Wanderers, during the early 1900s.
More recently, Brynley Toms (1939-2022) was a Welsh rugby union player who represented Wales in the 1960s and later became a respected coach, working with the national team and various club sides.
While the name Brynley has Welsh origins, it has gained popularity beyond Wales in recent decades, particularly in English-speaking countries. However, its historical roots and associations remain firmly rooted in Welsh culture and tradition.
People
Brynley + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Brynley 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
Brynley: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Brynley?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,201 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Brynley 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 107,077 US residents.
Is Brynley a common name?
We classify Brynley as "Rare". It ranks above 95.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,227 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Brynley most popular?
The single biggest year for Brynley was 2017, when 219 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Brynley is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Brynley a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Brynley 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.
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.