Brian
Brian was given to 979 boys in 2025, #339 among boys’ names; 1,178,298 Americans have been recorded with it since 1909 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1.03 million Americans named Brian and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (87% of everyone recorded); the median is 49 years old and half are between 39 and 58.
Brian is the #20 most common first name among living American men and boys, by this estimate.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Brian by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Brian mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Brian is “a male given name from Irish.”
Borrowed from Irish Brian. Doublet of Brendan.
/ˈbɹaɪ.ən/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Brian?
#339 among boys’ names, 2025
Brian fell from #189 in 2015 to #339 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 1.2 to 0.57 per 1,000.
36,477 babies in 1972, the peak
Brian peaked in 1972, when 36,477 babies were given it (36,306 boys, #8 among boys’ names). The 979 births of 2025 are 3% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 979 | #339 | 0.57 |
| 2024 | 1,116 | #302 | 0.65 |
| 2023 | 1,049 | #317 | 0.61 |
| 2022 | 1,180 | #289 | 0.68 |
| 2021 | 1,188 | #288 | 0.68 |
| 2020 | 1,261 | #271 | 0.73 |
| 2019 | 1,479 | #247 | 0.82 |
| 2018 | 1,631 | #235 | 0.90 |
| 2017 | 1,778 | #216 | 1.0 |
| 2016 | 1,984 | #204 | 1.0 |
Every recorded year (116)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 2,218 | #189 | 1.2 |
| 2014 | 2,536 | #168 | 1.3 |
| 2013 | 2,645 | #150 | 1.4 |
| 2012 | 2,820 | #141 | 1.5 |
| 2011 | 3,250 | #122 | 1.7 |
| 2010 | 3,766 | #101 | 2.0 |
| 2009 | 4,658 | #94 | 2.3 |
| 2008 | 5,263 | #87 | 2.6 |
| 2007 | 6,075 | #81 | 2.9 |
| 2006 | 6,511 | #72 | 3.2 |
| 2005 | 6,920 | #63 | 3.5 |
| 2004 | 7,333 | #59 | 3.7 |
| 2003 | 7,672 | #59 | 3.9 |
| 2002 | 8,082 | #51 | 4.2 |
| 2001 | 8,303 | #46 | 4.3 |
| 2000 | 8,958 | #43 | 4.6 |
| 1999 | 8,808 | #43 | 4.6 |
| 1998 | 9,146 | #41 | 4.8 |
| 1997 | 9,739 | #37 | 5.2 |
| 1996 | 10,476 | #36 | 5.5 |
| 1995 | 10,991 | #36 | 5.8 |
| 1994 | 11,648 | #37 | 6.0 |
| 1993 | 12,544 | #34 | 6.4 |
| 1992 | 14,107 | #31 | 7.1 |
| 1991 | 14,915 | #30 | 7.4 |
| 1990 | 16,935 | #27 | 8.2 |
| 1989 | 18,106 | #24 | 9.0 |
| 1988 | 19,532 | #22 | 10.2 |
| 1987 | 20,362 | #20 | 10.9 |
| 1986 | 21,027 | #20 | 11.4 |
| 1985 | 23,069 | #18 | 12.5 |
| 1984 | 24,720 | #17 | 13.7 |
| 1983 | 26,050 | #14 | 14.5 |
| 1982 | 25,829 | #14 | 14.2 |
| 1981 | 26,583 | #14 | 14.8 |
| 1980 | 28,715 | #12 | 16.1 |
| 1979 | 28,659 | #10 | 16.6 |
| 1978 | 29,432 | #9 | 17.9 |
| 1977 | 32,492 | #8 | 19.8 |
| 1976 | 30,517 | #8 | 19.4 |
| 1975 | 30,578 | #8 | 19.6 |
| 1974 | 34,449 | #8 | 21.9 |
| 1973 | 35,686 | #8 | 22.9 |
| 1972 | 36,306 | #8 | 22.4 |
| 1971 | 32,624 | #9 | 18.4 |
| 1970 | 31,917 | #8 | 17.2 |
| 1969 | 31,669 | #9 | 17.7 |
| 1968 | 29,922 | #10 | 17.2 |
| 1967 | 28,646 | #10 | 16.4 |
| 1966 | 27,253 | #14 | 15.3 |
| 1965 | 24,552 | #19 | 13.2 |
| 1964 | 24,167 | #20 | 12.1 |
| 1963 | 24,133 | #20 | 11.9 |
| 1962 | 23,221 | #20 | 11.2 |
| 1961 | 22,566 | #20 | 10.6 |
| 1960 | 22,000 | #20 | 10.3 |
| 1959 | 20,737 | #22 | 9.7 |
| 1958 | 19,279 | #24 | 9.1 |
| 1957 | 17,519 | #26 | 8.1 |
| 1956 | 14,666 | #32 | 6.9 |
| 1955 | 10,109 | #40 | 4.9 |
| 1954 | 8,078 | #48 | 4.0 |
| 1953 | 6,665 | #53 | 3.4 |
| 1952 | 5,741 | #64 | 3.0 |
| 1951 | 5,101 | #75 | 2.7 |
| 1950 | 4,441 | #79 | 2.5 |
| 1949 | 3,854 | #86 | 2.2 |
| 1948 | 3,358 | #95 | 1.9 |
| 1947 | 3,450 | #95 | 1.9 |
| 1946 | 2,585 | #103 | 1.6 |
| 1945 | 1,989 | #113 | 1.5 |
| 1944 | 1,954 | #116 | 1.4 |
| 1943 | 1,950 | #120 | 1.4 |
| 1942 | 1,523 | #139 | 1.1 |
| 1941 | 1,123 | #153 | 0.91 |
| 1940 | 1,007 | #163 | 0.87 |
| 1939 | 808 | #176 | 0.73 |
| 1938 | 609 | #204 | 0.55 |
| 1937 | 519 | #228 | 0.49 |
| 1936 | 344 | #289 | 0.33 |
| 1935 | 254 | #347 | 0.24 |
| 1934 | 187 | #402 | 0.18 |
| 1933 | 150 | #450 | 0.15 |
| 1932 | 119 | #538 | 0.11 |
| 1931 | 93 | #617 | 0.09 |
| 1930 | 90 | #646 | 0.08 |
| 1929 | 112 | #558 | 0.10 |
| 1928 | 104 | #603 | 0.09 |
| 1927 | 75 | #755 | 0.07 |
| 1926 | 47 | #1,010 | 0.04 |
| 1925 | 59 | #872 | 0.05 |
| 1924 | 38 | #1,171 | 0.03 |
| 1923 | 35 | #1,214 | 0.03 |
| 1922 | 31 | #1,314 | 0.03 |
| 1921 | 34 | #1,253 | 0.03 |
| 1920 | 31 | #1,301 | 0.03 |
| 1919 | 14 | #2,161 | 0.01 |
| 1918 | 12 | #2,414 | 0.01 |
| 1917 | 14 | #2,103 | 0.02 |
| 1916 | 17 | #1,779 | 0.02 |
| 1915 | 21 | #1,509 | 0.02 |
| 1914 | 11 | #1,987 | 0.02 |
| 1913 | 14 | #1,451 | 0.03 |
| 1912 | 6 | #2,311 | 0.01 |
| 1911 | 7 | #1,403 | 0.03 |
| 1909 | 5 | #1,479 | 0.03 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Brian a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Brian has been given almost only to boys: 4,563 girls in 116 years of records.
Girls and boys named Brian: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Brian, and how old are they?
1.03 million alive in 2026, estimated
That is 87% of the 1,178,298 Americans ever recorded as Brian. The median Brian alive today is 49 years old; half are between 39 and 58.
The 2020 Census counted 1,011,020 people named Brian (1,129 women and girls, 1,009,891 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,060,348 born in the U.S. The Census count is 5% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 4,150 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 174,000 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 438,000 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 282,000 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 106,000 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 20,900 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Brian born?
The states with the most babies named Brian are California, New York and Pennsylvania, with 26% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 126,426 | #325 | 1.0× |
| New York | 101,597 | #360 | 1.1× |
| Pennsylvania | 72,519 | #293 | 1.2× |
| Illinois | 69,804 | #280 | 1.1× |
| Ohio | 67,968 | #289 | 1.1× |
| Michigan | 57,678 | #378 | 1.2× |
| Texas | 49,510 | #368 | 0.6× |
| New Jersey | 45,828 | #254 | 1.3× |
| Massachusetts | 42,948 | #240 | 1.4× |
| Florida | 35,169 | #231 | 0.8× |
Where Brian is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Brian is most over-represented in Massachusetts: since 1910 it was given 1.4 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Brian with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 1,592,826 babies since 1880, Brian is the most given (74% of them). In 2025 it was given to 979 of their 2,017 babies (49%), the second most given that year.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Brian
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Brian and names like it
- Compare Brian and BryanBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sBrian peaked in 1972.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Brian since 1910.
- Irish namesWiktionary’s origin for Brian: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1972The year the most babies were named Brian.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Brian alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with BMost given first.