Brinley
A feminine name of English origin meaning "burnt meadow".
Name Census estimates that about 13,047 living Americans carry the first name Brinley. It is a predominantly female name (98.9% of registrations). The average person named Brinley today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Brinley births was 2017 (1,007 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Brinley. 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 Brinley with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Brinley is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 151 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Brinley is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 11 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
13K
~ 1 in 26,271 Americans
Peak year
2017
1,007 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2023 SSA rank
#564
Tracked since 1987
Census
Brinley in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 9,077 people with the first name Brinley, which placed it at #2,621 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
#2,621
National first-name rank
People counted
9.1K
9,077 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
89.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Brinley
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brinley is White at 89.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.3%) and Hispanic (4.2%). 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 Brinley 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 Brinley at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White89.3% · 8,103
- Two or more races4.3% · 389
- Hispanic or Latino4.2% · 385
- Black or African American1.1% · 104
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 60
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 36
Gender
Gender distribution for Brinley
Brinley leans heavily female at 98.9% of total registrations, but 151 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Brinley as a male name
- Ranked #7,354 in 2023
- 11 male births in 2023
- Peak: 2013 (14 births)
Brinley as a female name
- Ranked #564 in 2024
- 535 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2017 (1,000 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Brinley leans strongly female. 8,908 people counted with this name were female (98.1%), compared with 172 male bearers (1.9%).
Popularity
Brinley: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Brinley 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 7,512 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Brinley remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Brinley 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 Brinley during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Brinleys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 48 states and territories. Texas, Utah, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Brinley, while Vermont, Alaska, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 248 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Brinley
The name Brinley is of English origin, derived from the Old English words "bryn" meaning "burn" or "stream" and "leah" meaning "woodland clearing" or "meadow." It was originally a surname given to those who lived near a small stream or brook in a woodland area.
The earliest recorded use of Brinley as a given name dates back to the late 16th century in England. One of the first known individuals with this first name was Sir Thomas Brinley, an English politician and Member of Parliament who lived from 1580 to 1653.
During the 17th and 18th centuries, the name Brinley was primarily used as a masculine name among the English gentry and aristocracy. Notable bearers of the name during this time include Sir Francis Brinley (1632-1697), an English merchant and philanthropist, and Robert Brinley Sheridan (1751-1816), an Irish satirist, playwright, and politician.
In the 19th century, the name Brinley gained popularity as a feminine name, particularly in the United States. One of the earliest recorded examples of a woman named Brinley was Brinley Rhind (1824-1887), an American educator and writer who founded the Brinley School for Girls in New York City.
Another notable figure named Brinley was Brinley Richards (1819-1885), an English architect and engineer who designed several notable buildings in London, including the Royal Albert Hall.
In more recent times, the name Brinley has continued to be used as both a masculine and feminine name, though it is more commonly given to girls. Some other individuals who have borne the name include Brinley Codd (1910-1988), an Australian cricketer, and Brinley Rees (1919-2004), a Welsh composer and conductor.
While the name Brinley has its roots in Old English, it has travelled across various cultures and regions over the centuries, with individuals from diverse backgrounds bearing this name. Its connection to nature and the imagery of streams and woodland clearings has likely contributed to its enduring appeal.
People
Brinley + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Brinley 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
Brinley: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Brinley?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 13,047 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Brinley 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 26,271 US residents.
Is Brinley a common name?
We classify Brinley as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 13,155 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Brinley most popular?
The single biggest year for Brinley was 2017, when 1,007 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Brinley is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Brinley in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 9,077 people with the name Brinley, or 3.01 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,621 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 Brinley 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 Brinley?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Brinley leans strongly female. 8,908 people counted with this name were female (98.1%), compared with 172 male bearers (1.9%). 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 Brinley?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brinley is White at 89.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.3%) and Hispanic (4.2%). 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 Brinley most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Brinley in the 2020 Census, accounting for 89.3% (8,103 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 Brinley in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Brinley a female name?
Yes, 98.9% of people registered as Brinley 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 Brinley still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Brinley 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 Brinley 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 Americans are named Brinley?
Want to know how many Americans are named Brinley? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.