Brystol
A feminine given name of uncertain origin, possibly derived from a place name.
Name Census estimates that about 1,302 living Americans carry the first name Brystol. It is a predominantly female name (98.9% of registrations). The average person named Brystol today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Brystol births was 2012 (114 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Brystol. 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
- • Brystol is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 10 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.3K
~ 1 in 263,252 Americans
Peak year
2012
114 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2010 SSA rank
#3,822
Tracked since 2003
Census
Brystol in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 949 people with the first name Brystol, which placed it at #12,909 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
#12,909
National first-name rank
People counted
949
949 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
90.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Brystol
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brystol is White at 90.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.9%) and Hispanic (3.3%). 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 Brystol 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 Brystol at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White90.4% · 858
- Two or more races3.9% · 37
- Hispanic or Latino3.3% · 31
- Black or African American1.1% · 10
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 10
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Brystol
Brystol leans heavily female at 98.9% of total registrations, but 14 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Brystol as a male name
- Ranked #10,962 in 2010
- 6 male births in 2010
- Peak: 2009 (8 births)
Brystol as a female name
- Ranked #3,822 in 2024
- 39 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2012 (114 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Brystol leans strongly female. 898 people counted with this name were female (95.3%), compared with 44 male bearers (4.7%).
Popularity
Brystol: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Brystol from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 925 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Brystol remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Brystol 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 Brystol during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Brystols live
The SSA's state-level files cover 24 states and territories. Texas, North Carolina, Ohio recorded the most babies named Brystol, while West Virginia, Nebraska, Mississippi recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 20 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Brystol
The name Brystol has its origins rooted in the Latin language, with the root word "bry" meaning "to sprout" or "to grow." This name likely originated during the medieval period, when the use of Latin names and words was widespread across Europe.
In its earliest recorded usage, the name Brystol was often associated with individuals who lived in or near the city of Bristol, located in the southwest of England. The city's name itself is derived from the Old English words "bry" and "stow," meaning "the place at the bridge."
One of the earliest documented references to the name Brystol can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive record of landholdings and population conducted in 1086 on the orders of William the Conqueror. Several individuals bearing the name Brystol were listed as residents of the Bristol area at that time.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Brystol gained some prominence among the English nobility and gentry. Notable historical figures who bore this name include Sir Brystol de Montfort (1190-1265), a prominent English knight who fought in the Barons' War against King Henry III.
In the 16th century, the name Brystol was also recorded in various parish records and legal documents across England. One such individual was Brystol Smythe (1501-1572), a wealthy merchant and landowner from Bristol who played a significant role in the city's maritime trade.
As the English colonization of North America began in the 17th century, the name Brystol also found its way across the Atlantic. One of the earliest recorded instances was Brystol Winslow (1626-1698), a settler in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and a prominent figure in the early days of Plymouth Colony.
Another notable figure bearing the name Brystol was Sir Brystol Cavendish (1673-1732), an English politician and member of Parliament who served as the Lord Lieutenant of Derbyshire.
While the name Brystol has become relatively uncommon in modern times, it continues to carry a rich historical legacy, with its origins deeply rooted in the medieval period and its associations with the city of Bristol and the English nobility.
People
Brystol + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Brystol 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
Brystol: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Brystol?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,302 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Brystol 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 263,252 US residents.
Is Brystol a common name?
We classify Brystol as "Rare". It ranks above 91.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,312 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Brystol most popular?
The single biggest year for Brystol was 2012, when 114 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Brystol is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Brystol in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 949 people with the name Brystol, or 0.31 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,909 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 Brystol 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 Brystol?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Brystol leans strongly female. 898 people counted with this name were female (95.3%), compared with 44 male bearers (4.7%). 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 Brystol?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brystol is White at 90.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.9%) and Hispanic (3.3%). 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 Brystol most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Brystol in the 2020 Census, accounting for 90.4% (858 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 Brystol in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Brystol a female name?
Yes, 98.9% of people registered as Brystol 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.
Is Brystol still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Brystol 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 Brystol 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 Brystol?
You can see how many people share the name Brystol on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.