Obryan
Irish patronymic surname meaning "descendant of Brian".
Name Census estimates that about 293 living Americans carry the first name Obryan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Obryan today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Obryan births was 1984 (25 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Obryan. 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
293
~ 1 in 1,169,810 Americans
Peak year
1984
25 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2021 SSA rank
#11,744
Tracked since 1982
Census
Obryan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 255 people with the first name Obryan, which placed it at #32,783 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
#32,783
National first-name rank
People counted
255
255 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
71.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Obryan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Obryan is Black at 71.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (17.3%) and White (5.5%). 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 Obryan 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 Obryan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American71.0% · 181
- Hispanic or Latino17.3% · 44
- White5.5% · 14
- Two or more races3.9% · 10
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 4
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 2
Popularity
Obryan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Obryan from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 136 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
Obryan 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 Obryan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Obryans live
Origin
Meaning and history of Obryan
The name Obryan is thought to have its origins in the ancient Irish language, with roots dating back to the 5th or 6th century AD. It is believed to be a variant spelling of the name Ó Briain, which translates to "descendant of Brian" or "son of Brian." The name Brian itself is derived from the old Irish word "brígh," meaning strength, vigor, or virtue.
In early medieval Ireland, the Ó Briain family was a prominent dynasty that ruled over the Kingdom of Thomond, located in what is now County Clare. They were descendants of the semi-legendary king Brian Boru, who is renowned for his victories against Viking invaders and his efforts to unite Ireland under a single rule in the late 10th and early 11th centuries.
The earliest recorded use of the name Obryan can be traced back to the 12th century, when it was mentioned in various Irish annals and historical records. One notable bearer of the name was Donough O'Bryan, who served as the King of Thomond in the early 13th century and played a significant role in the conflicts between the Irish and Anglo-Norman forces.
Over the centuries, the name Obryan has been associated with several notable figures throughout history. One such figure was William O'Bryan, an Irish Jacobite soldier and writer who lived in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. He is best known for his memoirs, which provide insights into the Jacobite Wars and the struggles between the Catholic and Protestant factions in Ireland.
Another famous bearer of the name was Denny O'Bryan, an Irish-American professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) during the 1940s and 1950s. He was born in 1922 and played for teams like the Detroit Falcons and the Baltimore Bullets, earning recognition for his defensive skills and tenacity on the court.
In the realm of literature, one cannot overlook the contributions of Michael O'Bryan, an Irish poet and playwright who lived from 1828 to 1899. His works, which often explored themes of Irish identity and nationalism, earned him a significant following during his lifetime and continue to be studied and appreciated today.
Lastly, a noteworthy figure from more recent history is Patrick O'Bryan, an American lawyer and civil rights activist who played a crucial role in the fight against racial segregation in the United States. Born in 1919, he was a prominent figure in the Civil Rights Movement and worked tirelessly to secure equal rights and opportunities for marginalized communities.
People
Obryan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Obryan as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with O
Other first names starting with O with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Obryan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Obryan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 293 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Obryan 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 1,169,810 US residents.
Is Obryan a common name?
We classify Obryan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 78.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 301 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Obryan most popular?
The single biggest year for Obryan was 1984, when 25 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Obryan is about 30 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Obryan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 255 people with the name Obryan, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #32,783 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 Obryan 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 Obryan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Obryan leans strongly male. 247 people counted with this name were male (95.7%), compared with 11 female bearers (4.3%). 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 Obryan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Obryan is Black at 71.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (17.3%) and White (5.5%). 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 Obryan most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Obryan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.0% (181 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 Obryan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Obryan a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Obryan 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 Obryan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Obryan 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 Obryan 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 common is the name Obryan?
See how many Americans are named Obryan on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.