Brien
Brien was given to 7 boys in 2025, #9,860 among boys’ names; 3,593 Americans have been recorded with it since 1925 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 3,060 Americans named Brien and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (85% of everyone recorded); the median is 49 years old and half are between 36 and 61.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Brien by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Brien?
#9,860 among boys’ names, 2025
Brien fell from #8,129 in 2015 to #9,860 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 4.7 to 4.1 per million.
99 babies in 1963, the peak
Brien peaked in 1963, when 99 boys were given it, #767 among boys’ names. The 7 births of 2025 are 7% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 7 | #9,860 | 4.1 |
| 2024 | 6 | #11,147 | 3.5 |
| 2021 | 5 | #12,421 | 2.9 |
| 2020 | 7 | #9,716 | 4.1 |
| 2018 | 11 | #7,190 | 6.1 |
| 2017 | 12 | #6,742 | 6.5 |
| 2016 | 7 | #9,815 | 3.7 |
| 2015 | 9 | #8,129 | 4.7 |
| 2014 | 6 | #10,907 | 3.1 |
| 2013 | 13 | #6,285 | 6.9 |
Every recorded year (86)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 13 | #6,357 | 6.9 |
| 2011 | 9 | #8,163 | 4.7 |
| 2010 | 12 | #6,734 | 6.3 |
| 2009 | 13 | #6,479 | 6.6 |
| 2008 | 11 | #7,259 | 5.4 |
| 2007 | 23 | #4,253 | 11.1 |
| 2006 | 24 | #4,010 | 11.7 |
| 2005 | 27 | #3,535 | 13.5 |
| 2004 | 23 | #3,870 | 11.6 |
| 2003 | 33 | #2,928 | 16.7 |
| 2002 | 36 | #2,637 | 18.5 |
| 2001 | 25 | #3,420 | 12.9 |
| 2000 | 30 | #2,919 | 15.3 |
| 1999 | 49 | #1,964 | 25.5 |
| 1998 | 25 | #3,100 | 13.1 |
| 1997 | 46 | #1,966 | 24.4 |
| 1996 | 44 | #1,986 | 23.2 |
| 1995 | 48 | #1,798 | 25.2 |
| 1994 | 54 | #1,663 | 27.9 |
| 1993 | 40 | #2,007 | 20.4 |
| 1992 | 62 | #1,468 | 31.0 |
| 1991 | 41 | #1,892 | 20.3 |
| 1990 | 52 | #1,584 | 25.3 |
| 1989 | 57 | #1,450 | 28.5 |
| 1988 | 61 | #1,317 | 31.9 |
| 1987 | 48 | #1,482 | 25.7 |
| 1986 | 48 | #1,440 | 26.1 |
| 1985 | 68 | #1,125 | 36.8 |
| 1984 | 50 | #1,325 | 27.7 |
| 1983 | 65 | #1,107 | 36.3 |
| 1982 | 61 | #1,179 | 33.6 |
| 1981 | 69 | #1,095 | 38.5 |
| 1980 | 74 | #1,048 | 41.5 |
| 1979 | 61 | #1,156 | 35.4 |
| 1978 | 66 | #1,066 | 40.2 |
| 1977 | 47 | #1,316 | 28.6 |
| 1976 | 57 | #1,124 | 36.3 |
| 1975 | 68 | #995 | 43.6 |
| 1974 | 69 | #989 | 43.9 |
| 1973 | 81 | #886 | 52.0 |
| 1972 | 69 | #977 | 42.6 |
| 1971 | 87 | #874 | 49.2 |
| 1970 | 84 | #881 | 45.2 |
| 1969 | 97 | #783 | 54.2 |
| 1968 | 89 | #784 | 51.2 |
| 1967 | 89 | #774 | 51.0 |
| 1966 | 85 | #786 | 47.7 |
| 1965 | 70 | #874 | 37.6 |
| 1964 | 82 | #841 | 41.2 |
| 1963 | 99 | #767 | 48.7 |
| 1962 | 71 | #901 | 34.3 |
| 1961 | 93 | #790 | 43.8 |
| 1960 | 71 | #897 | 33.3 |
| 1959 | 76 | #874 | 35.6 |
| 1958 | 72 | #888 | 33.9 |
| 1957 | 69 | #913 | 32.0 |
| 1956 | 53 | #1,035 | 25.1 |
| 1955 | 41 | #1,170 | 19.9 |
| 1954 | 40 | #1,186 | 19.6 |
| 1953 | 34 | #1,286 | 17.2 |
| 1952 | 40 | #1,168 | 20.6 |
| 1951 | 26 | #1,466 | 13.8 |
| 1950 | 27 | #1,399 | 15.1 |
| 1949 | 25 | #1,466 | 14.1 |
| 1948 | 14 | #2,036 | 8.0 |
| 1947 | 17 | #1,855 | 9.3 |
| 1946 | 17 | #1,768 | 10.5 |
| 1945 | 13 | #1,938 | 9.7 |
| 1944 | 13 | #1,999 | 9.5 |
| 1943 | 7 | #2,993 | 4.9 |
| 1942 | 10 | #2,399 | 7.2 |
| 1941 | 7 | #2,900 | 5.7 |
| 1939 | 11 | #2,179 | 9.9 |
| 1933 | 7 | #3,039 | 7.1 |
| 1926 | 5 | #4,276 | 4.5 |
| 1925 | 5 | #4,278 | 4.5 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Brien a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Brien has been given almost only to boys: 5 girls in 86 years of records.
Girls and boys named Brien: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Brien, and how old are they?
3,060 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 85% of the 3,593 Americans ever recorded as Brien. The median Brien alive today is 49 years old; half are between 36 and 61.
The 2020 Census counted 2,889 people named Brien (50 women and girls, 2,839 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 3,178 born in the U.S. The Census count is 9% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 23 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 685 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,050 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 828 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 391 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 82 |
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 Brien born?
The states with the most babies named Brien are California, New York and Texas, with 58% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 312 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| New York | 184 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Texas | 78 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Michigan | 66 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Illinois | 53 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Ohio | 52 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Pennsylvania | 46 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Massachusetts | 35 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Connecticut | 28 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Washington | 24 | not ranked | 0.4× |
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 Brien 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 1,591,435 babies since 1880, Brien is the fourth most given (<1% of them). In 2025 it was given to 7 of their 2,017 babies (<1%), the fifth 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 Brien
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 Brien and names like it
- Compare Brien and BrianBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1960sBrien peaked in 1963.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Brien since 1910.
- The top names of 1963The year the most babies were named Brien.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Brien alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with BMost given first.