Brighton
A place name derived from Old English referring to a bright or sunny town.
Name Census estimates that about 4,956 living Americans carry the first name Brighton. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 58.5% of registrations being male. The average person named Brighton today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Brighton births was 2015 (255 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Brighton. 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 Brighton with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Brighton sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
- • Brighton is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 14 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
5.0K
~ 1 in 69,159 Americans
Peak year
2015
255 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,984
Tracked since 1983
Census
Brighton in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,853 people with the first name Brighton, which placed it at #4,716 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
#4,716
National first-name rank
People counted
3.9K
3,853 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
78.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Brighton
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brighton is White at 78.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.9%) and Hispanic (5.7%). 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 Brighton 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 Brighton at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White78.7% · 3,034
- Two or more races6.9% · 265
- Hispanic or Latino5.7% · 220
- Black or African American4.6% · 177
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.9% · 112
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 45
Gender
Gender distribution for Brighton
Brighton is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 5,007 total registrations, 2,929 (58.5%) were male and 2,078 (41.5%) were female.
Brighton as a male name
- Ranked #1,984 in 2024
- 78 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2012 (157 births)
Brighton as a female name
- Ranked #2,151 in 2024
- 88 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2017 (142 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Brighton on both sides of the split. Of the 3,850 people counted with this name, 2,337 were male (60.7%) and 1,513 were female (39.3%).
Popularity
Brighton: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Brighton from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 2,317 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Brighton remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Brighton 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 Brighton during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Brightons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 28 states and territories. Utah, Texas, California recorded the most babies named Brighton, while Wisconsin, Massachusetts, Iowa recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 77 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Brighton
The given name Brighton is derived from the Old English words "bri-" meaning "hill" or "slope" and "tun" meaning "town" or "settlement". It is believed to have originated as a place name in the region that is now southern England, referring to a town situated on a hill or sloping terrain.
The earliest recorded use of the name Brighton as a place name dates back to the Domesday Book, a survey of English lands commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The settlement of Brighton is mentioned in this historical document, indicating that the name was in use by the late 11th century.
While the name Brighton was initially associated with the geographic location, it eventually transitioned into use as a personal name, likely during the Middle Ages or Renaissance period. Some historical figures who bore the given name Brighton include:
1. Brighton de Montfort (c. 1170 - 1240), an English nobleman and crusader who fought in the Fifth Crusade and the Barons' War against King John.
2. Brighton Seymour (1537 - 1611), an English courtier and diplomat who served under Queen Elizabeth I and was a member of the renowned Seymour family.
3. Brighton Fairfax (1607 - 1677), an English-born American colonist and landowner who established the Fairfax family's presence in Virginia.
4. Brighton Hawkins (1728 - 1801), a British naval officer and explorer who participated in several voyages to the Pacific and contributed to the mapping of Australia and New Zealand.
5. Brighton Wyndham (1805 - 1878), a British artist and patron of the arts, known for his landscape paintings and support of the Pre-Raphaelite movement.
While not as widely popular as some other English names, Brighton has maintained a presence throughout history, often associated with individuals of notable lineage or achievements.
People
Brighton + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Brighton 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
Brighton: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Brighton?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,956 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Brighton 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 69,159 US residents.
Is Brighton a common name?
We classify Brighton as "Rare". It ranks above 96.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,007 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Brighton most popular?
The single biggest year for Brighton was 2015, when 255 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Brighton is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Brighton in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,853 people with the name Brighton, or 1.28 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,716 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 Brighton 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 Brighton?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Brighton on both sides of the split. Of the 3,850 people counted with this name, 2,337 were male (60.7%) and 1,513 were female (39.3%). 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 Brighton?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brighton is White at 78.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.9%) and Hispanic (5.7%). 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 Brighton most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Brighton in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.7% (3,034 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 Brighton in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Brighton a male name?
Yes, 58.5% of people registered as Brighton 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 Brighton still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Brighton 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 Brighton 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 are named Brighton?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Brighton, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.