Bridie
A feminine diminutive of Bridget, from the Irish name Bríd meaning "exalted one".
Name Census estimates that about 216 living Americans carry the first name Bridie. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Bridie today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bridie births was 1918 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bridie. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Bridie with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
216
~ 1 in 1,586,826 Americans
Peak year
1918
12 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,252
Tracked since 1909
Census
Bridie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 426 people with the first name Bridie, which placed it at #23,110 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
#23,110
National first-name rank
People counted
426
426 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
87.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bridie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bridie is White at 87.8%. The next largest groups are Black (6.8%) and Hispanic (1.9%). 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 Bridie 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 Bridie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White87.8% · 374
- Black or African American6.8% · 29
- Hispanic or Latino1.9% · 8
- Two or more races1.9% · 8
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 2
Popularity
Bridie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bridie from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 61 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1970s peak, Bridie remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Bridie 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 Bridie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Bridies live
Origin
Meaning and history of Bridie
The name Bridie is derived from the Irish Gaelic name Brighid, which has its origins in the ancient Celtic culture. Brighid was the name of a revered Irish goddess associated with spring, fertility, and poetry. The name likely has roots in the Proto-Celtic word "brig", meaning "exalted" or "high".
The name Brighid was later adopted as a Christian name, as the pagan goddess was reinterpreted as St. Brigid of Kildare, one of the patron saints of Ireland. St. Brigid lived in the 5th century and is renowned for founding several monasteries, including the famous Kildare Abbey.
The earliest recorded use of the name Bridie dates back to the 12th century, when it appeared as a diminutive form of Brighid. It was particularly popular in Ireland, Scotland, and parts of England during the Middle Ages.
One notable figure with the name Bridie was Bridie Lonie (1898-1971), a Scottish singer and actress who performed on stage and in films. Another was Bridie Gallagher (1924-2012), an Irish singer and actress known as "The Girl from Donegal".
In the literary world, Bridie Murphy (1950-) is an Irish novelist and short story writer who has won several awards for her work. Bridie Nicholson (1967-) is an Australian author and illustrator of children's books.
Historically, the name Bridie has also been associated with religion. Bridie Doherty (1920-2002) was an Irish nun who served as a missionary in India for over 50 years and was known for her work with the poor.
These are just a few examples of the notable individuals who have borne the name Bridie throughout history, reflecting its enduring popularity and cultural significance, particularly in Celtic and Irish traditions.
People
Bridie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bridie 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
Bridie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bridie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 216 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bridie 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 1,586,826 US residents.
Is Bridie a common name?
We classify Bridie as "Very Rare". It ranks above 75.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 374 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bridie most popular?
The single biggest year for Bridie was 1918, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bridie is about 32 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bridie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 426 people with the name Bridie, or 0.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #23,110 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 Bridie 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 Bridie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bridie leans strongly female. 423 people counted with this name were female (97.2%), compared with 12 male bearers (2.8%). 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 Bridie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bridie is White at 87.8%. The next largest groups are Black (6.8%) and Hispanic (1.9%). 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 Bridie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Bridie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.8% (374 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 Bridie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bridie a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Bridie 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 Bridie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bridie 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 Bridie 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 have Bridie as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Bridie, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.